Editing Joseph McCarthy (section)

{{Short description|American politician (1908–1957)}}
{{other people}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2023}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2024}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Joseph McCarthy
| image               = Joseph McCarthy adjusted.jpg
| caption             = McCarthy in 1954
| jr/sr               = United States Senator
| state               = [[Wisconsin]]
| term_start          = January 3, 1947
| term_end            = May 2, 1957
| predecessor         = [[Robert M. La Follette Jr.]]
| successor           = [[William Proxmire]]
| office2             = Chair of the [[United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs|Senate Government Operations Committee]]
| term_start2         = January 3, 1953
| term_end2           = January 3, 1955
| predecessor2        = John L. McClellan
| successor2          = [[John L. McClellan]]
| office3             = Judge of the [[Wisconsin circuit courts|Wisconsin Circuit Court]]<br>for the 10th Circuit
| term_start3         = January 1, 1940
| term_end3           = January 3, 1947
| predecessor3        = Edgar Werner
| successor3          = Michael Eberlein
| birth_name          = Joseph Raymond McCarthy
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1908|11|14}}
| birth_place         = [[Grand Chute, Wisconsin]], U.S.
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1957|5|2|1908|11|14}}
| death_place         = [[Bethesda, Maryland]], U.S.
| resting_place       = [[St. Mary's Parish (Appleton, Wisconsin)|Saint Mary's Cemetery]]
| party               = [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] (from 1944)
| otherparty          = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] (1936–1944)
| spouse              = {{marriage|Jean Kerr|1953}}
| children            = 1
| education           = [[Marquette University]] ([[Bachelor of Laws|LLB]])
| signature           = Joe Mccarthy Signature.svg
| allegiance          = United States
| branch              = [[United States Marine Corps]]
| serviceyears        = 1942–1945 (Marine Corps)<br>1946–1957 ([[United States Marine Corps Reserve|Reserve]])
| rank                = [[Lieutenant colonel (United States)|Lieutenant Colonel]]
| battles             = [[World War II]]
| mawards             = [[Distinguished Flying Cross (United States)|Distinguished Flying Cross]]<br>[[Air Medal]] (5)
}}{{Conservatism US|activists}}

'''Joseph Raymond McCarthy''' (November 14, 1908 – May 2, 1957) was an American politician who served as a [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] [[United States Senate|U.S. Senator]] from the state of [[Wisconsin]] from 1947 until his death at age 48 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 [[Communism|communist]] [[Subversion (politics)|subversion]].<ref>
For a history of this period, see, for example:<br />
{{cite book | first = David  | last = Caute  | author-link = David Caute| title= The Great Fear: The Anti-Communist Purge Under Truman and Eisenhower  | place = New York | publisher= [[Simon & Schuster]]  | year= 1978  | isbn= 0-671-22682-7}}; {{cite book | last = Fried | first =  Richard M. | year = 1990 | title = Nightmare in Red: The McCarthy Era in Perspective &#124; | place = New York | publisher = Oxford University Press | isbn = 0-19-504361-8}}<br />
{{cite book| last = Schrecker | first = Ellen | author-link = Ellen Schrecker | year = 1998 | title = Many Are the Crimes: McCarthyism in America | place = Boston | publisher = Little, Brown | isbn = 0-316-77470-7 | url = https://archive.org/details/manyarecrimesmcc00schr }}</ref> He alleged that numerous communists and [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] spies and sympathizers had infiltrated the United States federal government, universities, film industry,<ref name="Shaw">{{Cite book|title=Cinematic Cold War: The American Struggle for Hearts and Minds|last1=Youngblood|first1=Denise J.|last2=Shaw|first2=Tony|publisher=University Press of Kansas|year=2014|isbn=978-0700620203|location=United States of America}}</ref><ref name="Feuerherd">{{cite web |last1=Feuerherd |first1=Peter |title=How Hollywood Thrived Through the Red Scare |url=https://daily.jstor.org/how-hollywood-thrived-through-the-red-scare/ |website=JSTOR Daily |access-date=July 29, 2020 |date=December 2, 2017 |archive-date=August 2, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200802195001/https://daily.jstor.org/how-hollywood-thrived-through-the-red-scare/ |url-status=live }}</ref> and elsewhere. Ultimately he was censured by the Senate in 1954 for refusing to cooperate with and abusing members of the committee established to investigate whether or not he should be censured. The term "[[McCarthyism]]", coined in 1950 in reference to McCarthy's practices, was soon applied to similar [[anti-communism|anti-communist]] activities. Today the term is used more broadly to mean [[demagogy|demagogic]], reckless, and unsubstantiated accusations, as well as public [[character assassination|attacks on the character]] or [[patriotism]] of political opponents.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Publishers |first=HarperCollins |title=The American Heritage Dictionary entry: McCarthyism |url=https://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=McCarthyism |access-date=December 23, 2023 |website=www.ahdictionary.com |archive-date=December 23, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231223033459/https://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=McCarthyism |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>Onion, Rebecca, ''[https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/07/that-have-you-no-sense-of-decency-sir-moment-from-the-1954-army-mccarthy-hearings-isnt-quite-what-we-remember.html We're Never Going to Get Our “Have You No Sense of Decency, Sir?” Moment] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180801064340/https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/07/that-have-you-no-sense-of-decency-sir-moment-from-the-1954-army-mccarthy-hearings-isnt-quite-what-we-remember.html |date=August 1, 2018 }}'', Slate, July 26, 2018</ref>

Born in [[Grand Chute, Wisconsin]], McCarthy commissioned into the [[United States Marine Corps|Marine Corps]] in 1942, where he served as an [[military intelligence|intelligence]] briefing officer for a [[dive bomber]] squadron. Following the end of [[World War II]], he attained the rank of [[major (United States)|major]]. He volunteered to fly twelve combat missions as a gunner-observer. These missions were generally safe, and after one where he was allowed to shoot as much ammunition as he wanted, mainly at coconut trees, he acquired the nickname "Tail-Gunner Joe". Some of his claims of heroism were later shown to be exaggerated or falsified, leading many of his critics to use "Tail-Gunner Joe" as a term of mockery.<ref name="Garraty, John 1989 p. 24">Garraty, John (1989). 1,001 Things Everyone Should Know About American History. New York: Doubleday. p. 24</ref><ref name="O'Brien, Steven 1991 p. 265">O'Brien, Steven (1991). Santa Barbara, ABC-CLIO, p. 265</ref><ref name="The Comics Journal">{{cite web|url=http://www.tcj.com/ct-cartoonists-5-the-philosopher-of-okefenokee-swamp/|title=Connecticut Cartoonists #5: The Philosopher of Okefenokee Swamp|date=June 22, 2016|publisher=The Comics Journal|access-date=June 23, 2016|archive-date=June 23, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160623164710/http://www.tcj.com/ct-cartoonists-5-the-philosopher-of-okefenokee-swamp/|url-status=live}}</ref>

A [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] until 1944, McCarthy successfully ran for the U.S. Senate in 1946 as a Republican, narrowly defeating incumbent [[Robert M. La Follette Jr.]] in the [[1946 United States Senate election in Wisconsin#Republican primary|Wisconsin Republican primary]], then Democratic challenger [[Howard McMurray]] by a 61% – 37% margin. After three largely undistinguished years in the Senate, McCarthy rose suddenly to national fame in February 1950 when he asserted in a speech that he had a list of "members of the Communist Party and members of a spy ring" who were employed in the [[United States Department of State|State Department]].<ref>{{cite web|title = Communists in Government Service, McCarthy Says|publisher = United States Senate History Website|url = https://www.senate.gov/about/powers-procedures/investigations/mccarthy-hearings/communists-in-government-service.htm|access-date = July 8, 2023|archive-date = July 8, 2023|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230708120246/https://www.senate.gov/about/powers-procedures/investigations/mccarthy-hearings/communists-in-government-service.htm|url-status = live}}</ref> In succeeding years after his 1950 speech, McCarthy made additional accusations of Communist infiltration into the State Department, the administration of President [[Harry S. Truman]], the [[Voice of America]], and the [[United States Army|U.S. Army]]. He also used various charges of communism, communist sympathies, disloyalty, or [[sex crimes]] to attack a number of politicians and other individuals inside and outside of government.<ref>{{Cite book | last = McDaniel | first = Rodger E. | author-link = Rodger McDaniel | title = Dying for Joe McCarthy's Sins: The Suicide of Wyoming Senator Lester Hunt | place = Cody, WY | publisher = WordsWorth Press | year = 2013 | isbn = 978-0983027591 }}</ref> This included a concurrent "[[Lavender Scare]]" against suspected [[homosexuality|homosexuals]], whose illicit sexual activity was presumed to make them vulnerable to [[blackmail]] by communists and others.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Simpson|first1=Alan K. |chapter=Prologue |title=Dying for Joe McCarthy's Sins: The Suicide of Wyoming Senator Lester Hunt |first2=Rodger |last2=McDaniel |publisher=WordsWorth Press |year=2013|page=x |isbn= 978-0983027591}}</ref>

With the highly publicized [[Army–McCarthy hearings]] of 1954, and following the suicide of Wyoming Senator [[Lester C. Hunt]] that same year,<ref>McDaniel, Rodger. ''Dying for Joe McCarthy's Sins''</ref> McCarthy's support and popularity faded. On December 2, 1954, the Senate voted to [[Censure in the United States|censure]] McCarthy by a vote of 67–22, making him one of the few senators ever to be disciplined in this fashion. He continued to rail against communism and socialism until his death at the age of 48 at [[National Naval Medical Center|Bethesda Naval Hospital]] in [[Bethesda, Maryland]], on May 2, 1957, though doctors had not previously reported him to be seriously ill.<ref>{{cite web |author=Ted Lewis |date=May 3, 1957 |title=Joseph McCarthy, the controversial senator, dies at 48 in 1957 |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/joseph-mccarthy-controversial-senator-dies-1957-article-1.2615207 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170224180048/http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/joseph-mccarthy-controversial-senator-dies-1957-article-1.2615207 |archive-date=February 24, 2017 |access-date=August 19, 2017 |newspaper=New York Daily News}} Reprinted May 1, 2016</ref> His death certificate listed the cause of death as "[[Hepatitis]], acute, cause unknown",<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.dcdave.com/article5/deathcertificate.JPG |title=McCarthy's death certificate |access-date=August 19, 2017 |archive-date=December 7, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221207131802/https://www.dcdave.com/article5/deathcertificate.JPG |url-status=live }}</ref>  which some biographers say was caused or exacerbated by [[alcoholism]].<ref name=causeofdeath>
See, for example: {{cite book |last = Oshinsky |first = David M. |title = A Conspiracy So Immense: The World of Joe McCarthy |place = New York |publisher = Free Press |year= 2005 |pages = 503–504 |isbn = 0-19-515424-X |orig-year= 1983|title-link = A Conspiracy So Immense: The World of Joe McCarthy }}; {{cite book |last = Reeves |first = Thomas C. |author-link = Thomas C. Reeves |title = The Life and Times of Joe McCarthy: A Biography |url = https://archive.org/details/lifetimesofjoe00reev |url-access = registration |place = New York |publisher = Stein and Day |pages = [https://archive.org/details/lifetimesofjoe00reev/page/669 669–671] |year= 1982 |isbn = 1-56833-101-0}}; {{cite book|last = Herman |first = Arthur |title = Joseph McCarthy: Reexamining the Life and Legacy of America's Most Hated Senator |place = New York |publisher = Free Press |year = 2000 |pages = [https://archive.org/details/josephmccarthyre00herm/page/302 302–303] |isbn = 0-684-83625-4 |url = https://archive.org/details/josephmccarthyre00herm/page/302 }}</ref>