In February, 1950 a little-known senator from Wisconsin made a speech in WHEELING, WEST Virginia. The senator, Joseph R. McCarthy, charged that the State Department was infested with communist agents.
Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin was known for being VERY anti-communist. Attacks (and I don't mean physical) on suspected communist were even refered to as McCarthyism.
Extreme, reckless charges that caused people to lose their jobs and destroyed their reputations.
He instigated a lot of accusations against people on the ground of them being communists despite there rarely ever being any solid evidence behind any of his claims. He was a senator from Wisconson. He was only stopped once he started turning his conspiracies on communism to point at the army.
US citizens had to be carefull how they exercised their freedom of speech during the McCarthy era. Rumors and gossip concerning communism could get those individuals investigated as being communists. NONSENSE! McCarthy Vindicated At Last 12/18/2007 http://bit.ly/b2fmz8 "...These intercepted cables proved that there were over 350 Americans spying for the Soviets, and enabled investigators to identify about half of them. Joe McCarthy had access to the information contained in the top secret Venona intercepts, access given him by J. Edgar Hoover and others concerned with the extent of Soviet espionage and penetration, but he could not defend himself against charges of recklessly accusing people of being Soviet agents by revealing the source of his information without alerting the Soviets that some of their most important secrets were known to U.S. Intelligence..."
The US senator's name was Joseph McCarthy. The Red Scare is also known as McCarthyism.
In February, 1950 a little-known senator from Wisconsin made a speech in WHEELING, WEST Virginia. The senator, Joseph R. McCarthy, charged that the State Department was infested with communist agents.
In February, 1950 a little-known senator from Wisconsin made a speech in WHEELING, WEST Virginia. The senator, Joseph R. McCarthy, charged that the State Department was infested with communist agents.
Senator Joseph McCarthy began investigating Communist subversion in the United States in 1950. This action led to the Army-McCarthy Hearings in 1954. This activities and methods involved during this period would become known as McCarthyism.
Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin was known for being VERY anti-communist. Attacks (and I don't mean physical) on suspected communist were even refered to as McCarthyism.
Leading the Red Scare.
It was a publicity stunt. Senator Joseph R. McCarthy saw Republicans like Richard Nixon gain popularity through accusing Democrats of being "soft on communism," and he decided to imitate this.
The House Un-American Activities Commission investigated suspected communists and communist groups, including countless Hollywood actors and filmmakers.
Anti-Communist paranoia, commonly known as The Red Scare, led by Senator Joseph McCarthy, was the driving force behind the 1950s "witch hunts."
Senator Joe McCarthy was the leader of the anti Communist crusade of the 1950s in the US.
McCarthy claimed that there were known communists in the State Department. He held investigations and hearings and did ruin many careers. Presidents Truman and Eisenhower so feared his influence with the public that they did nothing to stop him. When McCarthy attacked the US Army as a hotbed of communist activity, the Senate finally censored him and he died a broken politician.
Joseph McCarthy, a Republican senator from Wisconsin who served in Congress from 1947 until his death in 1957.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 and was censured by the Senate on December 2, 1954, for behavior that was "contrary to senatorial traditions."See Biographical Dictionary of the United States Congress