McCarthyism
by Marci RanzerThe term McCarthyism is based on the actions of Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy during the 1940’s and 1950’s. McCarthyism signifies the extreme anti-Communist movement that occurred in the United States.
History of McCarthyism
The period of McCarthyism began in the late 1940s and ended in the mid to late 1950s. McCarthyism came to be synonymous with the term witch-hunt, the act of making serious but unsubstantiated charges against people in public life. McCarthyism is also used today as a more all-purpose term to describe the general practice of making false allegations, specifically of pro-Communist activity and most often based on irrelevant evidence.
McCarthyism is associated with the Red Scare and often referred to as the Second Red Scare. The Red Scare is the applied term given to a time in which Americans feared Communist influence in the United States from 1917 to 1920. McCarthyism brought about the Second Red Scare in the United States in the late 1940s.
On February 25, 1954 Senator Joseph McCarthy took on the United States army. He issued summonses to army officers, the brigadier general and accused the army of giving an honorable discharge to an alleged communist sympathizer. It was the beginning of the end for what was known as McCarthyism.
Senator Joseph McCarthy had been exploiting the nation’s fear of communism for what many believed to be for his own gain. Americans not only feared the Soviet Union, but they worried that communists were infiltrating the government in an attempt to overthrow America. McCarthy was the man most responsible for reinforcing such fears.
Victims of McCarthyism
There were many innocent victims of McCarthyism and hundreds were imprisoned. Most of the victims however, did have some connection to the Communist party at some point in their lives. Lots of victims were blacklisted including several actors, authors, civil rights activists and physicists.
McCarthy’s witch-hunt began in 1950 when he announced he had a list of 205 known communists employed by the state department. His charges led to years of senate and house investigations and were responsible for many people losing their jobs. The reputations of the victims of McCarthyism were destroyed and their families were torn apart. Popular condemnation was brought down upon people who were accused by McCarthy.
McCarthy’s Accusations and Investigation
McCarthy’s own undoing began when he leveled his accusations against the United States Army. This began at the Army Signal Corps laboratory at the United States Fort Monmouth Army post in Eatontown, New Jersey. McCarthy insulted the Army and the American public. These accusations led to the decline of McCarthy’s popularity. The hearings of his Army accusations were for the first time televised nationally so that the American public was see the Senator in action.
The United States Army was outraged by McCarthy’s accusations. McCarthy even accused President Eisenhower of treason. After almost a month of proceedings, the senate found that fellow Senator McCarthy acted in a manner they called contemptuous and reprehensible. On December 2, the senate voted 67 to 22 to censure McCarthy for inappropriate conduct of a senator.
Senator McCarthy spoke the following to reporters in response to the condemnations:
“I feel no different tonight than I did last night. I am very happy to have this circus ended, so that we can get back to the work of digging out communism, corruption, treason in government. That job will start officially Monday morning, after 10 months of forced inaction.”
McCarthy was soon seen even by his supporters as a man with no sense of decency. His popularity rapidly declined. He died less than 3 years later of cirrhosis of the liver, ending the national nightmare known as the McCarthyism.
