McCarthy is the politician responsible for the witch hunt in America in the 1950s. For his own dirty politics, with the help of the FBI and the media, he smeared innocent people, accused his country's intellectuals of communism, made the lives of many people miserable, ruined the careers of many professors and artists, and even caused suicides.
McCarthyism is the name of an anti-democratic practice that uses politics, state machinery, and the media in a democratic country to falsely accuse people and punish the innocent by slandering and smearing, harming the fundamental rights and freedoms of the society, and oppressing the whole society by exploiting democracy.
The importance of McCarthyism comes from the fact that it took place in a democratic society.
It shows how state power, intelligence, politics, and media are abused in a democratic society and the terrible consequences of this abuse.
It is important because it is a typical example of how people are oppressed under the mask of anti-communism and democracy protection.
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 in 1957. Beginning in 1950, McCarthy became the most visible public face of a period in the United States in which Cold War tensions fueled fears of widespread communist subversion.
There are three names at the center of the incident.
A dirty politician with a bad personality:
Joseph McCarthy.
The FBI's famously anti-communist head:
J. Edgar Hoover.
A journalist in touch with politicians:
Jack Anderson.
Joseph Raymond McCarthy was a Wisconsin state Republican senator from 1947 to 1957. During his 10-year tenure in the Senate, McCarthy and his staff gained notoriety for irresponsible accusations about the communist party or communist sympathizers. These accusations were directed at people in the U.S. government, particularly those who worked in the United States State Department and government libraries overseas.
McCarthy's allegations, which created fear of communism, put many people of the period in a difficult situation and brought the end of some people's professional lives.
Joseph Raymond McCarthy was born on November 14, 1908, on a farm in Outagamie, Wisconsin. He left secondary school at fourteen to help his family. He graduated from high school at the age of twenty. He entered Marquette University in 1930. He first studied electrical engineering, two years later he continued his studies in law and graduated from the Faculty of Law in 1935. He worked as a lawyer in Wisconsin. He became district attorney in 1936. He served as a district judge between 1940 and 1942.
When the United States entered World War II, McCharty entered the U.S. Marine Corps directly at the rank of lieutenant. McCharty chose the Navy because he thought it would contribute more to his political career. He worked as an intelligence officer for thirty months. Even though the war ended, he remained in the army and became a major.
He became a Wisconsin senator candidate from the Republican Party in the 1946 elections and won the elections with 62% of the votes. For the first three years, he was little more than a popular speaker. He was invited as a speaker to different organizations. He became even more famous in a speech on February 9, 1950. He listed communists working in the US State Department. This list was called 205. With McCarthy's speech, communism became a major problem in the USA. McCarthy continued his speech.
Following McCarthy's speeches, the Tydings Committee was established in the US Senate. The purpose of the committee was to investigate those who betrayed America. McCarthy labeled some employees as Russian agents. He even accused movie actor Charlie Chaplin of being a communist. McCarthy was a good speaker, but he had no concrete evidence that the people he accused of being communists were communists. Many people lost their jobs because of McCarthy's accusations. Although McCarthy's list and speeches were criticized as discrimination, they were supported by the public.
He received 54.2% of the votes in the 1950 elections. McCarthy's war on anti-communists gained support. One of the supporters was the Catholic community, the other was the Kennedy family. He was re-elected to the Senate in the 1952 elections. In 1953 he became chairman of the Senate Investigations Subcommittee. During this period, he directed his attacks against the army.
But McCarthy's anti-communism faded in 1954. He was removed from the Senate with the votes of the Republicans. After this date, McCarthy lived a life away from politics. He died on May 2, 1957.