Why Is Joseph Mccarthy Bad

Great Essays
Joseph McCarthy had a corrupt childhood with bullying and gambling, etc. He carried all of these bad habits into his carrier. He was a deceiving and powerful man. He twisted all the information he obtained and used it against innocent people. Ultimately, nothing came out of his investigations except for fear and chaos.Joseph McCarthy was a United States Senator during the 1950s who ran a series of anti-communistic trials blaming many innocent Americans and essentially ruining their lives and or careers.
It is interesting to notice that all of McCarthy’s bad habits and ways stemmed back to his childhood. Joseph grew up being bullied by his older brothers (he was one of 7 kids). At the age of fourteen he owned an acre of land given to him by
…show more content…
And he did just that. He accused Owen Lattimore as “the top Russian espionage agent”. Mccarthy stated that this was his big case and if it fails so does he. He said to check his loyalty papers as proof. At Lattimore’s trail, Owen called McCarthy a liar. The trials went on for years. Lattimore was then charged with perjury crimes. Eventually, the charges were dropped but Lattimore’s reputation and legacy was forever ruined. Sadly, McCarthy did not go down with this case like he said he would. Since McCarthy knew that Truman would never release the loyalty documents, he claimed that all his proof was in them. Two weeks later Truman released the documents and McCarthy claimed that they had been tampered with. Sadly, McCarthy’s power did not die out because the people felt so vulnerable, they believed everything he was saying. They allowed him to continue and ignored all of his slip ups because they knew that communism was a slippery topic that gave him the right to mess up from time to time. But when the Tydings trials came to an end, the Korean War began. It was impecable timing for McCarthy. McCarthy at this point was way too valuable, hence neither party wanted to bring him down. When China entered the war, McCarthy blamed Dean Acheson (Secretary of State) and after a while of tormenting, he moved to General Marshall to attack. In 1952, Eisenhower had become president and Mccarthy and Eisenhower weren 't on such great terms to begin with because Eisenhower did not like that McCarthy criticized Marshall, a friend of his. But with all that tension, Eisenhower kept quite on his views. Eisenhower refused to work with McCarthy and McCarthy gave him a hard time with almost every action he

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    According to the Act’s section 213 of the Patriot Act, the government was allowed to invade a private property without letting the owner know the, standing up against the policies would make one a suspect and according to Section 215, the government has a right to access records to individuals of an individual held by any third party making it impossible to stand against them. In McCarthyism, the media could not cover the events and stand up against the senator with fear of being accused as communists.…

    • 880 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Mccarthyism Dbq

    • 513 Words
    • 3 Pages

    McCarthyism used the Red Scare in many ways to provoke the American people. There are at least 2 reasons from the documents which show how the Red Scare created McCarthyism. One way was through Joseph McCarthy because he was popular, fame, and power hungry so he used Americans fear of communism to climb in those three categories. Another way was through putting fear in the minds of many Americans.…

    • 513 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Good Night and Good Luck, people feared being accused of being communist. They feared this because they didn’t want to lose their jobs and friends. McCarthy and his committee were on the hunt for communists trying to ruin the United States government. Nobody wanted to interfere with McCarthy because they may get accused of being communist.…

    • 720 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The first reason that America should not have trusted McCarthy is because of the outcome of the Red Scare. The Red scare was an event that happened around 1950. It was when fear took over the Americans, and they did crazy things. What happened was the HUAC looked for communists, and tried to expose them. They began to…

    • 959 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Cold War was the geopolitical, ideological, and financial battle between two world superpowers, the USA and the USSR that began in 1947 toward the end of the Second World War and endured until the collapse of the Soviet Union on December 26, 1991. The Soviets reacted to the Marshall Plan with the Zhdanov Doctrine, uncovered in October of 1947. The Zhdanov Doctrine guaranteed that the United States was looking for worldwide mastery through American dominion, and in addition the breakdown of vote based system. Then again, as indicated by this Doctrine, the Soviet Union was resolved to disposing of colonialism and the remaining hints of totalitarianism, while fortifying popular government. The Soviet Union and the United States, two countries that had never been foes on any field, and which had battled next to each other amid WWII, were presently undeclared adversaries in a war that could never tear out in the open, however which would keep going for over fifty years.…

    • 596 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    But it only led to his downfall. Mccarthy attacked the Armed Services with many unproven accusations that led many people to believe that what Mccarthy was saying, was never entirely true from the…

    • 1044 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    but rather because of the traitorous actions of those who have been treated so well by this Nation. ”(McCarthy) The Senator went after many groups of people of american citizens such as government employees, homosexuals, and celebrities. He used the common people’s suspicions of government and hollywood to incriminate people he saw as…

    • 765 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The Second Red Scare

    • 279 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Along the new devised culture, started a practice of making accusations of subversion or treason without proper evidence. Senator Joseph McCarthy, known for alleging the Government for its inaction…

    • 279 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    According to the video Hunting the Communists! - Joseph McCarthy l THE COLD WAR: McCarthy held up a piece of paper during one of his speeches and claimed he had the names of over 200 communists. Just like him, Abigail stabbed herself with a needle and claimed that Elizabeth Proctor's spirit stabbed her. During both time periods, people believe them without question because they feared witches or…

    • 1043 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The cold war led to many communists to come out and to say what they had to. This led to believe that communists were slowly taking over the government and society. Most of of the communists in the US were referred to as the Red Scare. All these major events did not stop McCarthy to make sure…

    • 878 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This simple fact makes the reader stop, and really consider his actions. The reader was just compared to nations that have had wars declared on them. This leads to thoughts about Nazi Germany, and how they burned books during the Holocaust. McCarthy thought that he was doing the right thing, but this makes him step back and realize that was he did was…

    • 708 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Fear Tactics

    • 1096 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Fear can drive people to their extremes. Many people live in fear of their government and/ or other personal controlling in their society. Some people believe that the government is always right and that they do not lie. The government can cause “accidents” to happen and frame it on other ethnic cultures which cause a society to rely on the government. Fear causes suspicion, terror, and a government that is controlling popular belief.…

    • 1096 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    In the 1950s, Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin used the fear of communism to convince the American public that the Democrats were in bed with the communists to further his fame and political career. Joseph McCarthy said, “The State Department is infested with communists. I have here in my hand a list of 205—a list of names that were made known to the Secretary of State as being members of the Communist Party and who nevertheless are still working and shaping policy in the State Department. " The Cold War was occurring during this time period and the conflict was escalated by the victory of the communists in the Chinese Civil War. By scaring the American public, McCarthy drew massive media attention to him and won his next…

    • 692 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    For example, he helped by fixing the church roof. When he was hanged, people started to realize how corrupt the Witch Trials were, so the Puritans and the courts lost supporters. During the Red Scare, McCarthy started accusing allies. He stated that he was investigating, “communist infiltration in the military.” (Latham)…

    • 1074 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    The Cold War’s Social and Political Effect on America In world war II, America and the Soviet Union were allies. Their relationship throughout the war was tense. Due to paranoia and fear of communism from America and the Soviet Union’s resentment of America because of their delayed entry into the war, leading to many avoidable russian deaths, mutual hate and distrust of each other developed. This unfounded paranoia of both nations would, ultimately, cause the Cold War. (History.com, "Cold War History.")…

    • 1408 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays