This is one of those personal diaries that might get deleted because it's not political. On the other hand, I can make it political without a lot of effort. I'm going to go to the bedside of an old lady who needs help and part of why she needs help could be due to Joseph McCarthy. He and his committee didn't ruin her life, but they sure enough tried, and they made her a lot less secure financially.
She worked in the American Embassy in Russia during WWII and knew Russian (gasp!). That's where my parents met her--they worked there, too. When she returned to the US, she was in D.C. and well on her way to a good career, especially for a woman back then.
Then McCarthy hit and because they associated with people who knew Russian and a few who were actual Russians** (gasp!) she and my mother were pushed out of their career paths. By then my father worked for the private sector, so he was okay. Both women were called upon to testify before Congress. My mother got out of it because she was busy giving birth to my oldest sister. But my family's friend lost her D.C. job and never worked for the government again (My mother managed to get her job and eventually her career back. I think her GS wasn't as high? I never did the story completely straight and I wish I had because now it might be too late.)
So this woman's life was altered by asinine abuse of politics and now, more than fifty years later, she's still paying a price for the hunt for communists. She has no family, and very little money--she never did get a decent paying job after that. She lost her promising government career and ended up working as a secretary.
It always amazes ne to witness how the effects of negative human activities like wars and witch hunts can change and ruin lives long after they are resolved. I saw it with her, with my parents and with the refugees I worked with.
Okay, so back to the present. My parents' friend is in a Boston hospital and even though I'm not well informed and I'm not her relation, I'm helping another friend of hers. We're trying to be her advocate. I'm not in Boston yet. I'm planning on going up tomorrow. I'll drag along my laptop, but I'm writing today because I'm not sure about internet in the hospital or the hotel where I'll be staying. I guess I'll put my email on my UID. Oy. Okay.
Here's the community part: Any of you kossacks doctors or slightly medically knowledgable in Boston? If I need help, can I maybe call or email you with questions? I just need hand holding. I've done this advocate thing with my parents and know it's a tough job, particularly alone--her other friend will be out of town (with my parents, I had five siblings to talk to. Unfortunately they aren't as involved this time).
She could also use a good lawyer--but that's a story for another day.
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**The best my mother could figure out: the trouble probably started with a particular dinner party. One of their old embassy friends married a Russian woman and brought her back to the states. The Russian wife proudly announced to anyone who listened, and somebody must have, that her brother had just gotten a cushy job in the communist party. (Hey wouldn't you brag if your brother was a senator?) From what my parents recalled, the Russian woman was apolitical and rather a dope. Anyway, the feds took down the license plate numbers of all the cars attending that particular party and my parents and their friend were guilty of eating with the sister of a member of the communist party.
Another good story: one of their friends who worked at the embassy grew to loathe communism. he's show up at meetings and heckle the speakers. He drove his car to the meetings and, yup, his license plate was taken down by the OSS (or was it the CIA by then?) and, yup, he lost his US government job.
It went beyond losing their jobs. My mother had been volunteering for the red cross and they told her to get lost when the trouble started--AND my sister says they turned in evidence against Ma, although I don't know what that could have been. Maybe she spoke Russian to someone? (Since then, my family's been lukewarm on the red cross. More repercussions, more than fifty years later.)