Joseph McCarthy / McCarthyism

Red scare: Hysteria over the perceived threat posed by Communists in

the U.S. became known as the Red Scare. (Communists were often referred
to as Reds for their allegiance to the red Soviet flag.)

Red scared led to a national witch-hunt for suspected

communist supporters, which were later lead by Joseph
McCarthy and was the leader behind philosophy of
McCarthyism

Joseph McCarthy became a symbol of this epidemic

He capitalized on the nations fear of communist
subversion within the American society and instigated this
anxiety
McCarthyismwasthepracticeofattemptingtominimizethethreatof
communismbyaccusinganddetainingsuspectsdeemedtobeasecuritythreat
ordisloyaltotheUnitedStatesMcCarthyism is the practice of

making accusations of subversion or treason without proper

regard for evidence.
Investigationsrangedfromthefederalgovernment(especiallytheState
Department),toHollywood,tothegeneralAmericanpublic

Additionally,McCarthy'swantonaccusationsoftenledtothosewhowerenot
famousandworkedintheprivatesectorbeingostracizedfromtheirrespective
profession.

He was a Republican Senator of Wisconsin

He spent almost five years trying to expose communists
and those who had allied with the Soviet Union
February 1950: McCarthy gave a speech in Ohio Womens
Republic Club and claimed there were 205 known
members of the Communist Party who were working and
shaping the policy of the State Department and he had

the list of people to back the claims he rose to national

prominence after this speech was made
After that speech he conducted investigations, despite the
disapproval from many of his Democratic and Republican
colleagues, but found no proof of such activities happening
within the State Department
In 1953, after his second term as senator, he was put in
charge of the Committee on Government Operations

which allowed him to launch even more expansive

investigations
Hearing after hearing, he aggressively interrogates

witnesses in what many came to perceive as a blatant

violation of their civil rights
Even though there was lack of rebellion against the

federal government, more than 2,000 government

employees lost their jobs as a results of his
investigations
After his decision to broadcast the Army-McCarthy

hearings on national television after he turned his

attention to expose the supposed communist
infiltration of the armed services, his support begun to
wane until eventually, after the Armys Chief Counsel
lost it when he viciously attacked an Army lawyer,
many observers as a shameful moment in American
politics.
By the time the hearings were over, he had lost a lost of
his supporters The Senate condemned him for his
inexcusable, inexcusable,reprehensible,vulgarand

insultingconductunbecomingasenator.Hekepthisjob
butlosthispoweranddiedattheageof48in1957