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Joseph McCarthy was an American politician who
served as a Republican US Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947
until his death in 1957. Beginning in 1950, McCarthy became the most visible
public face of anticommunism by making unproven claims that there were large
numbers of Communists and Soviet spies and sympathizers inside the federal
government and elsewhere. On February 7, 1950, Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin delivered an historic infamous speech to a women's club in West Virginia accusing members of the State Department pf being communists. Here are a few excepts from that speech: |
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"Today we are engaged in a final, all-out battle between communistic atheism
and Christianity. The modern champions of communism have selected this as
the time. And, ladies and gentlemen, the chips are down--they are truly
down.....The reason why we find ourselves in a position of impotency is not
because our only powerful potential enemy has sent men to invade our shores,
but rather because of the traitorous actions of those who have been treated
so well by this Nation.... This is glaringly true in the State
Department. There the bright young men who are born with silver spoons in
their mouths are the ones who have been the worst.... In my opinion the
State Department, which. is one of the most important government
departments, is thoroughly infested with Communists. I have in my hand 57 cases of individuals who would appear to be either card carrying members or certainly loyal to the Communist Party, but who nevertheless are still helping to shape our foreign policy...." |
McCarthy had no list and never proved
his accusations. His charges made him the unofficial leader of a national
witch hunt in which the suspected "Reds" were metaphorically burned by an
irresponsible press until Edward R. Morrow had the integrity to take on
McCarthy. After Morrow's famous attack, the nation began to look back
at itself and the golem that it had created. No longer could the
nation or McCarthy's Senate colleagues continue to stomach his psychotic
behavior and on December 2. 1954, the Senate censured McCarthy by a vote of
67 to 22.
The term "McCarthyism," coined in 1950 in reference to McCarthy's practices,
was soon applied to similar anti-communist pursuits. Today the term is used
more generally to describe demagogic, reckless, and unsubstantiated
accusations, as well as public attacks on the character or patriotism of
political opponents. So let's recall the dangers of McCarthyism on the
senator's birthday with Blackened Red Snapper and watch
his downfall on Good Night, and Good Luck (2005).