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  1. Joseph Raymond McCarthy (November 14, 1908 – May 2, 1957) was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death at age 48 in 1957.

    • The Cold War
    • Joseph Mccarthy and The Rise of McCarthyism
    • 'Have You No Sense of Decency, Sir?'
    • The Fall of Joseph Mccarthy

    In the years after World War II ended, events at home and abroad seemed to many Americans to prove that the “Red menace” was real. In August 1949, for instance, the Soviet Union exploded its first atomic bomb. Later that year, Communist forces declared victory in the Chinese Civil War and established the People’s Republic of China. In 1950, North K...

    All of these factors combined to create an atmosphere of fear and dread, which proved a ripe environment for the rise of a staunch anticommunist like Joseph McCarthy. At the time, McCarthy was a first-term senator from Wisconsinwho had won election in 1946 after a campaign in which he criticized his opponent’s failure to enlist during World War II ...

    In April 1954, Senator McCarthy turned his attention to “exposing” the supposed communist infiltration of the armed services. Many people had been willing to overlook their discomfort with McCarthyism during the senator’s campaign against government employees and others they saw as “elites”; now, however, their support began to wane. Almost at once...

    By the time the hearings were over, McCarthy had lost most of his allies. The Senate voted to condemn him for his “inexcusable,” “reprehensible,” “vulgar and insulting” conduct “unbecoming a senator.” He kept his job but lost his power, and died in 1957 at the age of 48.

  2. Apr 2, 2014 · Read about when Senator Joseph McCarthy publicly charged that 205 communists had infiltrated the U.S. State Department, on Biography.com.

  3. Wisconsin Sen. Joseph McCarthy catapulted to national prominence in the United States after his claim in February 1950 that 205 communists were at that time employed by the State Department. Over the next few years, McCarthy capitalized on existing Cold War fears that Soviet communist subversion from within threatened the United States at the ...

  4. Oct 23, 2019 · Joseph McCarthy was a United States Senator from Wisconsin whose crusade against suspected communists created a political frenzy in the early 1950s. The actions of McCarthy dominated the news to such a degree that the word McCarthyism entered the language to describe the hurling of unfounded accusations.