Hostile, intimidating, and unfazed by the truth, Joe McCarthy single-handedly turned 1950s America into a frenzy of anti-communist fear and paranoia.

It was near the start of the Cold War: the Soviet Union had gotten ahead of the United States in the arms race, and Americans everywhere feared the existence of ‘Reds Under Beds’ within their own communities. Enter Joseph McCarthy to stun the country with a stunning statement that confirmed his worst fears.

McCarthy exposes the Reds

It was the night of February 9, 1950, at a meeting of the Republican Women’s Club in West Virginia, when McCarthy, 41, reported that he had in his hands a list of 205 names of State Department employees known to be members of the American Communist Party. (Four weeks later, McCarthy had reduced the number to fifty-seven.)

These informants, McCarthy said, were passing data to the Soviet Union: “The reason we find ourselves in a powerless position is not because the enemy has sent men to invade our shores, but because of the treacherous actions of those who have had all the benefits that the richest nation in the world has had to offer.

And so began the era of the communist witch hunt. The outbreak of the Korean War four months later, with the communist North’s invasion of democratic South Korea, confirmed the aggressive nature of global communism.

The rise of McCarthy

As a Republican, Joseph McCarthy slandered his political enemies on his way to the political pole, accusing them in turn of senility, financial irregularity, draft dodging, and war profiteering. But when his own career was threatened by claims that he had lied about his role during the war, McCarthy tapped into Americans’ fear of communism and overnight became the most talked about politician in America. USA.

hollywood red

Hollywood, already under suspicion, became the target of McCarthy’s intense scrutiny. From the working novice to the stars, the actors were questioned. Those who admitted their crimes could wipe the slate clean by confessing, apologizing, and providing lists of other wrongdoers. One screenwriter named 162 Hollywood actors, writers, or directors who were communists, former communists, or supporters of the communist cause. Many were purged, never to see work again for years. Others went abroad rather than face their turn in the McCarthy spotlight.

Movie studios, eager to regain the respect of the American people, produced a series of propaganda films, “I Married a Communist” or “I Was a Communist for the FBI” (which won the 1951 Oscar for best documentary).

Joe and Ilk

Republican presidential hopeful Dwight Eisenhower did not like McCarthy, but he needed his support to win the 1952 election. McCarthy had the audacity to accuse George C. Marshall, creator of the post-World War II Marshall Plan, of having communist sympathies and being “part of a conspiracy so vast, an infamy so black, that it dwarfs any in the history of mankind”. “Eisenhower planned to defend Marshall but, worried about losing McCarthy’s support at such an important moment, he did not.

Once in power, Eisenhower was still reluctant to drag the growing excesses of McCarthyism, which were now targeting members of the Eisenhower administration. “Attacking him,” said one purged victim, “is considered a certain method of suicide.”

McCarthy takes on the US Army.

In 1954, McCarthy decided to take on the US Army, up to Secretary of the Army Robert Stevens. The army, according to McCarthy, was filled with “dangerous spies.” The GOP tried to stop its rogue senator, but too late: Subsequent investigations into the McCarthy accusations were televised during a 36-day hearing.

The nation watched in horror as McCarthy yelled, heckled and intimidated during the hearing, with no regard for etiquette or procedure and without substantiating his outrageous claims with substantive evidence.

fall from grace

This time he had gone too far. The press, for too long in awe of McCarthy, attacked him for his “degrading parody of the democratic process.” The Republican Party finally put an end to his game and in December 1954 removed him from office, asking McCarthy on live television: “You’ve done enough. Haven’t you got a sense of decency, sir, at last? Haven’t you left any sense of decency?”

McCarthy faded into darkness. “McCarthyism,” Eisenhower quipped, “was now ‘McCarthywasm.’

Already an alcoholic, McCarthy drank himself to the hospital and on May 2, 1957, aged just 48, he died of liver failure.