Joseph McCarthy

Joseph McCarty was born in 1908 on a farm in Appleton, WI. He studied engineering and law and in 1938 Elected Judge of Wisconsin 10th Circuit Court, At the age of 33, McCarty volunteered for the U.S. Marin Corps. And served during the WW2. In 1946 he was elected to the U.S. Senate where he led the fight against continuing wartime sugar controls. McCarty’s goals were to expose Communists. In 1950, McCarty made a name for himself when said in a speech that he had a list of members of the communists party and members of a spy ring employed by the State Department. Over the next three years, McCarthy continued to incriminate and accuse high-ranking officials. He claimed that there was communists infiltration in the State Department, the Truman administration, Voice of American. McCarty also charged politicians and other people inside and outside the government of sympathizing with the communist party. Owen Lattimore was who McCarty made most of his allegations against. McCarty, at one point, said he would stake his entire reputation on Lattimore being a communist agent. During McCarty’s entire career he was never able to prove his allegations. In April of 1954, McCarthy accused the Secretary of the Army of covering up espionage activities. The Army reacted by supporting hearings into the way that McCarthy conducted his investigation. The army alleged that McCarthy and his associates bribed members of the Army staff and threatened them in return for favors. McCarthy was cleared of the charges, but the Senate censured him for his unfair investigative methods. McCarthy's influence stayed steadily after that, but the controversy remained active. McCarthyism became a term used in anti-communists pursuits. McCarty changed America by popularizing hostility towards communism. McCarty died at the age of 48. Years of drinking took its toll and, believed to have been the cause of his hepatitis.