With his infamous Wheeling, West Virginia speech on February 9, 1950, in which he declared he had a list of communists working in the State Department, Senator Joseph McCarthy ushered in the era known as McCarthyism. The speech came at a time when the fear of communism and communist infiltrators in American society was at an all time high, exacerbated by alarming developments like the “loss of China” to communism and the successful detonation of an atomic bomb by the Soviet Union. The case of Alger Hiss, accused of spying for the Soviets while working for the State Department, made McCarthy’s allegations plausible. This environment enabled McCarthy to spearhead the movement to investigate suspected communist dissidents within the State Department and elsewhere.
Often, he relied on colorful rhetoric to make up for a lack of evidence. His tactics contributed to creating an atmosphere of fear and intimidation throughout the Department. A number of people were unjustly accused and were either forced out or suffered lasting damage to their reputations. One such person was Vladimir I. Toumanoff. He was not one of McCarthy’s more well-known targets like the so-called “China hands,” but his story serves as a compelling example of McCarthyism. He came under scrutiny because of his Russian background, despite having grown up in the United States. McCarthy attempted to paint him as disloyal and a Communist sympathizer and it was only some shrewd outmaneuvering that saved Toumanoff’s career. He went on to enjoy a fruitful and memorable career in the Foreign Service, being in the thick of notable events in diplomatic history such as the U-2 incident and the trial of Francis Gary Powers. Vladimir I. Toumanoff was interviewed by William D. Morgan in 1999. In the following excerpts from his oral history, he discusses his experiences with McCarthy which occurred from late January to early February in 1953.
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