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Annie Lee Moss- Victimization, Bullying and the Press’ Role in the McCarthy Hearings

And now, my final paper as an undergraduate student (hopefully). The press' coverage of the McCarthy hearings has left an indelible mark on history, forever painting Senator McCarthy as an evil example of fear and anger combined with a government position turned awry. While using the government as a bully pulpit for fear mongering and control is an evil I will decry my entire life, the fact of the matter is that in the case of Joseph McCarthy, the press misused their power and maligned an individual in a most insidious manner which ignored the facts and instead focused on making its own case to its own gain. This is the story of one case in the hearings where the media clearly took sides and ignored facts- for their own advantage, and to the detriment of history and the integrity of our news media.

Annie Lee Moss sits at the bench, being cross examined by Chief Council Roy Cohn as the camera focuses on the spot where Joe McCarthy has just left. Sitting there in a black coat and frayed white gloves, she is a stark contrast to many of the previous defendants who sat in the chair being questioned at McCarthy’s House Un-American Activities Committee.[1] As a small, timid-looking and soft-spoken woman, only recently promoted from working in a cafeteria, Ms. Moss was a far cry from the regular crowd of intellectuals and policy analysts that had been brought in and investigated. When questioned about Karl Marx, she asked “Who’s that?”- provoking laughter in the audience. She claimed that "Never at any time have I been a member of the Communist Party and I have never seen a Communist Party card," and "I didn't subscribe to the Daily Worker and I wouldn't pay for it."[2]

This powerful moment crystallizes much of the media coverage of the Joseph McCarthy hearings, leaving the crucial question- how did the media cover Annie Lee Moss’ testimony, what effect did that coverage have on the public, and where did the media go wrong in their coverage of this event? To answer this, it will be important to look at who Annie Lee Moss was, how the media covered her and the hearing, the effect of the media coverage on the public, and why and how the coverage went wrong.