[chrisbennet]

Edit: Someone is wrong on the Internet and that person is me. ;-) When I quoted the 3,370 number I missed the "(end-of-fiscal-year count, excluding Postal Service, in thousands)

[ChrisIsWrong] The number of employees in the executive branch in the 1940's peaked at 3,370. [1] So by "hundreds of agents in the executive branch" do you mean that say, 10% of the executive branch were communist agents? [/ChrisIsWrong]

My Dad remembers McCarthy and his famous speech but doesn't know that he was discredited or even what the term "McCartheism" means.

[1] http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/data-analysis-docum...

[twoodfin]

That number doesn't pass the smell test. Today's Treasury Department alone employs more than 115,000 people[1].

The figures are "in thousands". The Executive Branch at the time had over 3.3 million employees.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_the...

[aurelian]

According to your link, the Department of Justice, which included the FBI, had fewer than 20 employees.

Edit: Thanks for acknowledging the mistake. I made the same one here.