Joseph McCarthy

Joseph McCarthy

Joseph McCarthy lived from November 14, 1908 – May 2, 1957. He was an American politician who served as aRepublican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957. Beginning in 1950, McCarthy became the most visible public face of a period during the cold war where people were afraid of other people being communists. He was known to make claims about people of them being communists or soviet Russian spies infiltrating the U.S. He has his own term called “McCarthyism” which refers to his ways of claiming people of being communists. In 1942, he was drafted into World War II and his education allowed him to be a high officer and he became a lieutenant after completing basic training. He won U.S. senator over La Follette.   From 1950 onward, McCarthy continued to exploit the fear of Communismand to press his accusations that the government was failing to deal with Communism within its ranks. These accusations received wide publicity, increased his approval rating, and gained him a powerful national following. 

McCarthy’s downfall finally began in October of 1953, when he started to investigate “communist infiltration into the military.” This was the final straw for then president Dwight D. Eisenhower, who realized that McCarthy’s movement needed to be stopped. The Army fired back at the accusations, sending information about McCarthy and advisors abusing congressional privileges to known critics of McCarthy. Reporters, Drew Pearson included, and other critics soon hopped on board, publishing unflattering articles about Joseph McCarthy and his methods of seeking out the supposed communists in America. Through the televised investigations into the United States Army and the reporters’ attack, the nation grew to realize that McCarthy was “evil and unmatched in malice.” He lost his position as chairmanship on the Government Committee on Operations of the Senate.

 This is a picture of a man Owen Lattimore getting questioned. This was one of the biggest accusations that Joseph McCarthy made.

https://www.mtholyoke.edu/~lillsie/McCarthyism/Victims.html