We explain who Senator Joseph McCarthy was and what “McCarthyism” was in the United States. Also, its relationship with the Cold War.
Who was Joseph McCarthy?
Joseph McCarthy was a United States senator from the state of Wisconsin who orchestrated, in the early 1950s, a sensational “witch hunt” in the United States against people suspected of being communists which opened a period of investigations, hearings and mass hysteria (the “red scare”) known as McCarthyism.
McCarthy claimed to defend American values against communist infiltration in the context of the beginning of the Cold War, which gained him popularity among conservative sectors. In 1950 he denounced without evidence that communist infiltration had established itself in the United States government.
At the same time, the Committee on Un-American Activities launched accusations against personalities from the entertainment world, especially Hollywood, which forced many actors, screenwriters and directors into self-censorship or exile. In 1954, after denouncing an alleged communist infiltration in the Army, McCarthy was convicted in the Senate for improper conduct . Although he continued to serve as senator until 1957, his political importance was diminished and his figure became associated with lies and the “witch hunt.” He died on May 2, 1957 at 48 years of age.
Personal life of Joseph McCarthy
Joseph McCarthy was born in Grand Chute, a town in the state of Wisconsin, on November 14, 1908 . His father, Timothy McCarthy, had been born in the United States to an Irish father and a German mother. His mother, Bridget Tierney, was Irish.
In his youth, Joseph McCarthy worked on the family farm. He graduated from the Little Wolf School in Wisconsin and, between 1930 and 1935, He attended Marquette University and graduated with a law degree. .
In 1935, McCarthy began working at a law firm and, in 1939, was elected as a circuit court judge in Wisconsin a role he held between 1940 and 1942. When the United States entered World War II in 1942, McCarthy he enlisted in the marine corps and acquired first the rank of captain and then that of lieutenant colonel. In 1945 he returned to the position of circuit court judge and began his campaign to become a United States senator.
In 1953 he married the researcher Jean Fraser Kerr. with whom he adopted a daughter, Tierney Elizabeth McCarthy, in 1957. However, in the last years of his life, Joseph McCarthy suffered from alcoholism, which caused cirrhosis of the liver and led to his death on May 2, 1957.
Joseph McCarthy's political career
The beginnings of McCarthyism
In 1946, Joseph McCarthy won the Republican Party primary for election. candidate for the United States Senate from the state of Wisconsin a position he held between 1947 and 1957 (since he was re-elected in 1952). During his first years as senator he remained a little-known character, until in February 1950 launched a public accusation against 205 communists supposedly infiltrated the State Department.
Although he could not prove the veracity of his accusations In none of the cases that were discussed in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, The environment fostered by the Cold War and the Korean War (1950-1953) made him very popular in the most conservative environments in the United States.
Even previously, the Committee on Un-American Activities, which reported to the House of Representatives, had initiated investigations against members or sympathizers of the Communist Party. In this sense, they stood out the hearings that, since 1947, were directed against personalities of the Hollywood film industry considered suspected of spreading communist propaganda.
Since 1950, McCarthy led an anti-communist crusade in the United States : He presented himself as a defender of authentic American values. The most conservative sectors of the American political class, including the future president Richard Nixon, supported him in his work. Since 1952 he directed this task as chairman of the Senate Government Operations Committee and its permanent investigations subcommittee.
The politics of McCarthy in the Senate and the Committee on Un-American Activities in the House of Representatives forced film personalities, like director Joseph Losey or actor, screenwriter and director Charles Chaplin, to leave the United States . It led many others to self-censorship.
The end of McCarthyism
In 1953, Senator McCarthy miscalculated his strength in trying to investigate the United States military. Although he was already questioned by important political figures, in 1954 he lost the prestige he had left when the Senate hearing against army officers for their alleged communist activity was broadcast on television. His demagogic style and His brutal interrogation tactics were exposed before public opinion.
In the November 1954 elections, the Republicans lost control of the Senate and McCarthy was replaced as chairman of the Senate Governmental Operations Committee. Shortly after, the Senate condemned him by 67 votes against 22 for his attitude “contrary to the traditions of the Senate” . This marked the end of McCarthy's political influence and the period of McCarthyism.
McCarthy remained a senator and died in office in 1957.
References
- Achter, P.J. (2022). McCarthyism. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/
- Britannica, Encyclopaedia (2023). Joseph McCarthy. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/
- Gubern, R. (1987). The Hollywood Witch Hunt. Anagram.
- Herman, A. (1999). Joseph McCarthy. Reexamining the Life and Legacy of America's Most Hated Senator. Free Press.
