Article in The Washington Post by Larry Tye, 6/2/25

Headline:  “This journalist was the real hero behind Joe McCarthy’s takedown”

Subhead:  “Drew Pearson rebuked Sen. Joseph McCarthy early and often. History gives him little credit for it.”

“The mythology of Sen. Joseph McCarthy — in fresh focus as the Broadway version of George Clooney’s “Good Night, and Good Luck” smashes box-office records — gets it right that a legendary American journalist played a vital role in toppling the red-baiting Republican in the 1950s. But it casts the wrong journalist.

“It wasn’t, as most accounts suggest, crusading radio and TV personality Edward R. Murrow, although Murrow did broadcast two bare-knuckle takedowns of McCarthy. Rather, it was radio and newspaper commentator Drew Pearson, who went after “Low-Blow Joe” six years before Murrow, stayed on the story longer and uniquely ignited the senator’s wrath. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/06/02/mccarthy-murrow-pearson-clooney-broadway/