The early 1950's were a period of tension and hostilities between communist and democratic countries. In Europe, the Soviet Union distanced itself from its former allies and the Iron Curtain went up between east and west. In the Pacific, the Korean War was raging between the Communist North and the Democratic South. Against this backdrop, a little known U.S. senator, Joseph McCarthy, preyed on the fears of the American public by organizing a campaign to identify and persecute suspected communists in the U.S. government, the military, and the arts.
Joseph McCarthy served in the U.S. Senate from 1946 ­ 1954. He had started his political career as a "New Deal" Democrat, but switched to the Republican Party after failing to win the Democratic nomination for an elected judicial post. Later, McCarthy would spitefully single out Democratic politicians for communist branding.
In 1950, McCarthy was especially concerned about his re-election chances. Stories surfaced as to how he had lied about his World War II military record, claiming to be a heroic pilot when he really sat behind a headquarters desk. He was also being investigated for tax evasion and for accepting a bribe from Pepsi-Cola. McCarthy asked a friend how he might deflect attention from these stories onto something else. The friend suggested that he should begin a campaign against communist infiltrators in the government. In February 1950, McCarthy made a speech in which he claimed that 205 people in the U.S. State Dept. were members of the communist party. He further argued that some of these individuals were passing secrets to our new enemy, the Soviet Union.
McCarthy began receiving information from J. Edgar Hoover, the head of the FBI, about people that he wanted to investigate. That same month, McCarthy made another lengthy Senate speech in which he claimed that four high-ranking government officials were part of a communist conspiracy to undermine the American way of life. When certain Democrats accused McCarthy of smear tactics, he labeled them communists, too. Other Congressional leaders were afraid of a similar fate, fearing that it might jeopardize their chances of re-election. Soon, no one had the courage to challenge Joseph McCarthy.
Since the war in Korea was going badly and communist advances were occurring in Eastern Europe and China, the American public was truly frightened about anything that could undermine democracy. McCarthy used his position as Chairman of the Government Committee on Operations of the Senate to exploit the situation. For two years, McCarthy investigated numerous agencies and questioned hundreds of people about their past lives. Some people lost their jobs after admitting that they had once belonged to the Communist party. This anti-communist hysteria became known as McCarthyism.
Joseph McCarthy wasn't content to simply investigate people for communist traces. He also targeted books that he determined were "anti-American." His researchers identified 30,000 books by "Communists, pro-communists, former communists, and anti anti-communists." Later, most of these books were removed from public library shelves.
Next, McCarthy began investigating communist infiltration into the military. He even tried to discredit the Secretary of the Army. President Eisenhower felt that he had finally gone too far. Finally, the Army and the media began fighting back. Newspapers and journalists began to question McCarthy's methods and purposes. The Senate stripped him of his Committee chairmanship and censored him. Without his powerful Senate committee, McCarthy was soon disregarded.
Joseph McCarthy represented the spirit of the 1950's because he captured America's anxiety over the spread of communism from Russia, China, and Korea. The U.S. had only recently concluded World War II. The country was engaged in another war with Korea that threatened to spread communism throughout Asia as well as Eastern Europe. Americans didn't trust anyone. McCarthy played to their fears and, at the same time, used public concerns to heighten his own importance. He was an egotistical maniac who undermined the very freedoms that the American people were fighting so hard to preserve.

Works Cited

Author N/N. "Joseph McCarthy." Online. Available

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAmccarthy.htm. 21 March 2003

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