Joseph McCarthy

           Joseph McCarthy’s full name is Joseph Raymond McCarthy. He was a two terms Republican Wisconsin Senator who was born on Nov. 14, 1908, near Appleton, Wisconsin. As a Wisconsin attorney, McCarthy served for three years as a  judge before enlisting in the Marines in World War II and resigned as a lieutenant in 1945. In 1946 he won the Republican nomination for the Senate over Senator Robert M. LaFollette, Jr.; he was later reelected that autumn in 1952.

He grew up in a poor Catholic family.He dropped out of school after eighth grade to start his own poultry business. But after the business was unsucessful, he enrolled in the local public high school. Joseph McCarthy went to Marquette University for two years of undergraduate. He later entered Marquette Law School,

             February 1950 was when the Red Scare started and the fear of Communism arose in the United States. He was known for claiming there were 205 known communists working for the U.S. Department of State but yet he could not provide any evidence for. President Truman dismissed him as a “ballyhoo artist.” He exploited the fear of Communism and attacked the government to increase his political standing. During the controversy, he gained a reputation as being the nation’s top Communist fighter. 

           When talking about Joseph McCarthy, people often think of the McCarthyism era. McCarthyism means “the practice of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence.” Many of whom were labeled communist sympathizers were unable to continue working during the Red Scare.

            He used his position as chairman of the Committee on Government Operations and its Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations to launch investigations designed to document charges of Communists in government. McCarthy lost support in 1953 when he started attacking the U.S. Army, and suggesting that Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower was protecting subversives. Soon after, the Senate formally condemned him on a vote of 67 to 22 for conduct “contrary to Senate traditions.” The fear of Communist was still remained but McCarthy and McCarthyism was largely ignored thereafter. He later died of alcoholism on May 2, 1957 at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland.

SOURCES:

<http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=m000315>

<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/353904/Joseph-R-McCarthy>

<http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/arthur-miller/mccarthyism/484/>