Edith Efron’s Murderous Adding Machine

I knew Whittaker Chambers for years before I was aware of the Hiss case. During all that time his qualitative analysis of the nature of the Soviet threat was absolutely brilliant, but unfortunately it convinced nobody save those who were convinced already. Then Whit produced his Pumpkin Papers, which, in a sense, quantified his arguments. At this point he was taken seriously. Hiss went to jail and the country, for a moment, believed in the reality of the cold war.

This did not help Senator Joseph McCarthy when he couldn’t corroborate his first statistical count of the number of Communists in the State Department. Our great quantifying country, which puts its entire faith in polls, demanded that Senator McCarthy produce item-by-item proof of his allegations. A qualitative statement that, judged by its behavior, the State Department must be under considerable fellow traveler influence, and that it didn’t matter much whether there were fifty or 205 Communists in Foggy Bottom, didn’t serve to save Joe at all. He had sinned against the gods of statistics by failing in a simple sum in addition.

JC

About the Author

John Chamberlain

John Chamberlain (1903–1995) was an American writer.

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Presidential Election

Whittaker Chambers

Vietnam

I knew Whittaker Chambers for years before I was aware of the Hiss case. During all that time his qualitative analysis of the nature of the Soviet threat was absolutely brilliant, but unfortunately it convinced nobody save those who were convinced already. Then Whit produced his Pumpkin Papers, which, in a sense, quantified his arguments. At this point he was taken seriously. Hiss went to jail and the country, for a moment, believed in the reality of the cold war.

This did not help Senator Joseph McCarthy when he couldn’t corroborate his first statistical count of the number of Communists in the State Department. Our great quantifying country, which puts its entire faith in polls, demanded that Senator McCarthy produce item-by-item proof of his allegations. A qualitative statement that, judged by its behavior, the State Department must be under considerable fellow traveler influence, and that it didn’t matter much whether there were fifty or 205 Communists in Foggy Bottom, didn’t serve to save Joe at all. He had sinned against the gods of statistics by failing in a simple sum in addition.