After Senator Joseph McCarthy made a public accusation that hundreds of government officials were communists, he sent a telegram to President Truman to inform the president of his claims. Click here to read a draft of Truman’s response to McCarthy. Historians believe that this reply was not sent to the senator. How do you think McCarthy’s anti-communist crusade might have been affected if Truman’s letter had been sent and made public? Why do you think the president wrote but did not send the letter?

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