Joseph McCarthy Few people in American history have ever plunged the country into panic as Joseph McCarthy did in the 1950s. He single-handedly fabricated a scandal he claimed reached into the highest branches of the US government. Lacking substantial evidence, he accused various senators, representatives, and officials of being communist spies. His infamous “list” of such people was comprised of information that was “either taken from other sources or misremembered or just made up” (Kelley). As a result, Joseph McCarthy negatively influenced the United States politically, socially, and morally, as reflected in the literature of the Second Red Scare. Joseph McCarthy was born in rural Wisconsin on November 15,1908. After working various odd jobs for several years, he ran for office as a judge in the local Judicial Circuit. He proved to be a somewhat controversial judge, and was part of a scandal that involved the destruction of court records. When World War Ⅱ broke out, McCarthy joined the Marines. He would soon claim to have been wounded in this combat, but this was
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While he had by no means lost his credibility at this point, there was a growing movement against his perspective. Detailed in the book Joe Must Go, Leroy Gore describes, and flaunts, a Wisconsin state petition that garnered over 350,000 signatures, all calling for the impeachment of Senator McCarthy (Gore). Ironically, this motion did not collect enough signatures to pass; instead, the senate voted to censure McCarthy, negating the majority of his power while allowing him to keep his senatorial title. Congress, the public, and the media mostly ignored him after this point. He died several years later in 1957 at the age of 48 from complications resulting from severe alcohol intake
While he had by no means lost his credibility at this point, there was a growing movement against his perspective. Detailed in the book Joe Must Go, Leroy Gore describes, and flaunts, a Wisconsin state petition that garnered over 350,000 signatures, all calling for the impeachment of Senator McCarthy (Gore). Ironically, this motion did not collect enough signatures to pass; instead, the senate voted to censure McCarthy, negating the majority of his power while allowing him to keep his senatorial title. Congress, the public, and the media mostly ignored him after this point. He died several years later in 1957 at the age of 48 from complications resulting from severe alcohol intake