1950 - sixty years ago this week. The world was, by and large a much different place. But some things have stayed the same - foreign aid, the lack of bi-partisanship in Washington and fear.

In 1950 Sen. Joseph McCarthy was getting warmed up on his anti-communist crusade, promising to rid the government in Washington of communist sympathizers, whom he was convinced inhabited just about every square foot of Capitol Hill. He took aim at the State Department and drew a goodly amount of scorn from former Secretaries of State who were also, as it happened to be, well-respected Republicans.

Henry McGrath, reading a letter from Henry L. Stimson (former Secretary of State): “It seems to me quite clear that the real motive for the accuser in this case is to cast discredit upon the Secretary of State of The United States. This man is not trying to get rid of known Communists in the State Department, he is hoping against hope that he will find some. Fortunately, the Secretary of State needs no defense from me. Signed, Henry L. Stimson, March 24th nineteen hundred and fifty.”

The McCarthy imbroglio would continue for a few years before it ground to a halt. But in 1950, Communism and all things Communist were suspect.

And that was just a sampling of what went on this week, sixty years ago.