It must be counted as a surprise that George Clooney did not win a Tony Award this past Sunday for his portrayal of Edward R. Murrow in the Broadway version of “Good Night and Good Luck.” The show is breaking box office records and at times explicitly, as in its coda focused on contemporary media and “fake news,” aligns with current liberal sensibility. The play clearly sets out to lionize Murrow for his role in confronting Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s anti-communist Red Scare crusade, which one has to believe that the Democratic Clooney sees as having current-day resonance in MAGA politics.
To be sure, Murrow and CBS News deserve credit for enterprising reporting about those wrongly tarred by McCarthy’s brush, such as the Air Force officer Milo Radulovich, cashiered without due process because his family members subscribed to leftist publications. There is no doubt that McCarthy, like the House Un-American Activities Committee, did not distinguish between the liberal Left and Communist Party members, and was willing to ruin reputations and lives without justification. That he was eventually denounced by President Dwight D. Eisenhower makes the point.
