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Joseph Raymond McCarthy (November 14, 1908 – May 2, 1957) was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death at age 48 in 1957.
- 1 (adopted)
- 1942–1945 (Marine Corps), 1946–1957 (Reserve)
Apr 30, 2024 · Joseph McCarthy, U.S. senator who lent his name to McCarthyism. He dominated the U.S. political climate in the early 1950s through his sensational but unproven charges of communist subversion in high government circles. In 1954 his Senate colleagues officially censured him for unbecoming conduct.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Did Joseph McCarthy cause the Red Scare of the 1950s?Despite being the popular face of the Red Scare that followed World War II, Joseph McCarthy did not start it. Congress and the American public wide...
- How did Joseph McCarthy’s anticommunist rhetoric impact the LGBTQ+ community?Joseph McCarthy framed the Cold War ideological struggle in terms of Christian morality and immoral “communistic atheism.” Throughout the early 195...
- Why did Joseph McCarthy’s influence decline?In 1953 Joseph McCarthy accused the U.S. Army of harbouring communist subversives. The Army then submitted a report alleging that McCarthy’s attorn...
- Synopsis
- Early Years and Career
- U.S. Senate
- Red Scare
- Lavender Scare
- Televised Hearing
- Later Years and Death
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Joseph McCarthy was born on November 14, 1908, near Appleton, Wisconsin. In 1946 he was elected to the U.S. Senate, and in 1950 he publicly charged that 205 communists had infiltrated the U.S. State Department. Reelected in 1952, he became chair of the Senate's subcommittee on investigations, and for the next two years he investigated various gover...
Joseph McCarthy was born on November 14, 1908, near Appleton, Wisconsin. Excelling academically, McCarthy attended Marquette University in Milwaukee, where he was elected president of his law school class. A few years after earning his law degree in 1935, McCarthy ran for the judgeship in Wisconsin’s Tenth Judicial Circuit, a race he worked at rele...
In 1946, McCarthy won his race in an upset against Senator Robert M. La Follette Jr. and entered the U.S. Congress as the youngest member of the Senate. McCarthy leaned toward conservatism and generally flew under the radar, working on such issues as housing legislation and sugar rationing. All that would change in 1950, when it became suspected th...
McCarthy was reelected in 1952 and became chairman of the Senate’s Committee on Government Operations, where he occupied the spotlight for two years with his anti-communist investigations and questioning of suspected officials. McCarthy’s charges led to testimony before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, but he was unable to substantiate an...
Around the same time as McCarthy implemented his charges around communist infiltration, the senator would also turn his sights to the gay and lesbian communities, alleging that LGBT governmental employees could be blackmailed by enemy agents over their sexuality and thereby betray national secrets. In 1950, a special report drawn up by the senator'...
McCarthy's charges of communism and anti-American activity affected more and more powerful people, including President Eisenhower, until 1954 when a nationally televised, 36-day hearing illustrated clearly to the nation that he was overstepping his authority and any ideas of common sense. (The hearings also famously prompted special counsel for the...
McCarthy was eventually stripped of his chairmanship and condemned on the Senate floor (Dec. 2, 1954) for conduct “contrary to Senate traditions.” That turned out to be the final nail in the coffin of the McCarthyism era, and Joseph McCarthy himself fell from the public eye though he continued to serve in Congress. A deeply troubling movement helme...
Learn about the life and career of Senator Joseph McCarthy, who led the anti-communist investigations that became known as the Red Scare and the Lavender Scare. Find out how he was discredited by a televised hearing and died of alcoholism in 1957.
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Oct 29, 2009 · Learn about the life and career of Joseph McCarthy, the Republican senator who led the anti-communist witch hunts in the U.S. government during the Cold War. Find out how he rose to fame, faced his critics and was censured by the Senate.
Elected to the Senate in 1946, Joseph McCarthy (1908-1957) did not draw major national attention until 1950. On February 9th of that year, he delivered a Lincoln Day address in Wheeling, West Virginia, blaming failures in American foreign policy on Communist infiltration of the U.S. government.
McCarthyism, name given to the period of time in American history that saw U.S. Sen. Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin produce a series of investigations and hearings during the 1950s in an effort to expose supposed communist infiltration of various areas of the U.S. government.
Wisconsin Republican senator Joseph R. McCarthy rocketed to public attention in 1950 with his allegations that hundreds of Communists had infiltrated the State Department and other federal agencies.
