Wednesday, April 8, 2009

McCarthy's Witch Hunt


Senator Joseph McCarthy, a Republican from Wisconsin, was the most famous anti-Communist activist. He exploited people's concerns about Communism by making ridiculous accusations which had no support. His attacks on alleged Communists became known as McCarthyism. Today, McCarthy's tactics are known as the McCarthy Witch Hunt. During his time in office McCarthy claimed to have the names of up to 205 Communists in the State Department. However, he never actually produced a single name. He restricted his accusations to within the Senate, where he was protected from being sued for slander. His fellow Republicans made no attempt to stop him because they wanted the public to believe they were getting rid of the nation's Communists. Thus, it would give them an advantage in the 1952 presidential election. In 1954, McCarthy made accusations against the United States Army. These accusations spurred a nationally televised Senate investigation. McCarthy's maltreatment of the witnesses cost him public support. He was condemned by the Senate for improper conduct that "tended to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute". Three years later he died due to alcoholism.

-Greg and Michael

2 comments:

  1. Great summary. Sometimes it amazes me at how corrupt people can be. There were people sentenced to death because of his accusations and that makes me really angry. It's too bad he was only condemned by the Senate and not given a harder punishment...

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  2. Good use of numbers and dates. McCarthy was truly a smart man (in his tactics), but over-paranoid in accusing so many people...

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