Editing Joseph McCarthy (section)

===Fame and notoriety===
[[File:Herblock1950.jpg|thumb|Herbert Block, who signed his work "[[Herblock]]", coined the term "[[McCarthyism]]" in this cartoon in the March 29, 1950, ''[[Washington Post]].'']]

From 1950 onward, McCarthy continued to exploit the [[Red Scare|fear of Communism]] and to press his accusations that the government was failing to deal with Communism within its ranks. McCarthy also began investigations into homosexuals working in the foreign policy bureaucracy, who were considered prime candidates for blackmail by the Soviets.<ref name="David M. Barrett 2005 p. 67">David M. Barrett, ''CIA and Congress: The Untold Story from Truman to Kennedy'' (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2005), p. 67.</ref> These accusations received wide publicity, increased his approval rating, and gained him a powerful national following.

In Congress, there was little doubt that homosexuals did not belong in sensitive government positions.<ref name="David M. Barrett 2005 p. 67"/> Since the late 1940s, the government had been dismissing about five homosexuals a month from civilian posts; by 1954, the number had grown twelve-fold.<ref>William N. Eskridge, "Privacy Jurisprudence and the Apartheid of the Closet, 1946–1961," ''Florida State University Law Review'' 23, no. 4 (Summer 1997); quoted in David M. Barrett, ''CIA and Congress: The Untold Story from Truman to Kennedy'' (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2005), p. 70.</ref> As historian [[David M. Barrett]] would write, "Mixed in with the hysterics were some logic, though: homosexuals faced condemnation and discrimination, and most of them—wishing to conceal their orientation—were vulnerable to [[blackmail]]."<ref>David M. Barrett, ''CIA and Congress: The Untold Story from Truman to Kennedy'' (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2005), p. 70.</ref> Director of Central Intelligence [[Roscoe Hillenkoetter]] was called to Congress to testify on homosexuals being employed at the [[CIA]]. He said, "The use of homosexuals as a control mechanism over individuals recruited for espionage is a generally accepted technique which has been used at least on a limited basis for many years." As soon as the DCI said these words, his aide signaled to take the remainder of the DCI's testimony off the record. Political historian David Barrett uncovered Hillenkoetter's notes, which reveal the remainder of the statement: "While this agency will never employ homosexuals on its rolls, it might conceivably be necessary, and in the past has actually been valuable, to use known homosexuals as agents in the field. I am certain that if [[Joseph Stalin]] or a member of the [[Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Politburo]] or a high satellite official were known to be a homosexual, no member of this committee or of the Congress would balk against our use of any technique to penetrate their operations ... after all, intelligence and espionage is, at best, an extremely dirty business."<ref>Hillenkoetter Testimony, 7-14-50, ''CIS Unpublished'' ''U.S. Senate Committee Hearings on Microfiche ''(Washington D.C.: Congressional Information Service); quoted in David M. Barrett, ''CIA and Congress: The Untold Story from Truman to Kennedy'' (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2005), p. 79.</ref> The senators reluctantly agreed the CIA had to be flexible.<ref>David M. Barrett, ''CIA and Congress: The Untold Story from Truman to Kennedy'' (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2005), p. 80.</ref>

McCarthy's methods also brought on the disapproval and opposition of many. Barely a month after McCarthy's Wheeling speech, the term "McCarthyism" was coined by ''[[Washington Post]]'' cartoonist [[Herblock|Herbert Block]].{{Citation needed|date=May 2025}} Block and others used the word as a synonym for [[demagogy|demagoguery]], baseless defamation, and mudslinging. Later, it would be embraced by McCarthy and some of his supporters. "McCarthyism is Americanism with its sleeves rolled," McCarthy said in a 1952 speech, and later that year, he published a book titled ''McCarthyism: The Fight For America''.{{Citation needed|date=May 2025}}

McCarthy sought to discredit his critics and political opponents by accusing them of being Communists or communist sympathizers. In the 1950 Maryland Senate election, McCarthy campaigned for [[John Marshall Butler]] in his race against four-term incumbent Millard Tydings, with whom McCarthy had been in conflict during the Tydings Committee hearings. In speeches supporting Butler, McCarthy accused Tydings of "protecting Communists" and "shielding traitors". McCarthy's staff was heavily involved in the campaign and collaborated in the production of a campaign tabloid that contained a composite photograph doctored to make it appear that Tydings was in intimate conversation with Communist leader [[Earl Russell Browder]].<ref>{{cite book
  |last = Oshinsky
  |first = David M.
  |title = A Conspiracy So Immense: The World of Joe McCarthy
  |publisher = Oxford University Press
  |year=  2005
  |page = 175
  |isbn = 0-19-515424-X
  |orig-year= 1983}}</ref><ref>
{{cite book
  |title = The Official United States Congressional Daily Digest Records
  |publisher = Government Publishing Office, Thomas Library, Official Repository Library, Local, Bakersfield California, CSUB
  |year=  2009
  |pages = 8', 79th Congress, 3rd Session, Date August 2, 1946, Congressional Records&nbsp;– House, p. 10749
  |orig-year= 1946}}</ref><ref>
{{cite book
  |title = The United States Constitution
  |publisher = Government Publishing Office, Thomas Library, Official Repository Library, Local, Bakersfield California, CSUB
  |year=  2009
  |page = 10
  |orig-year= 1782}}
</ref> A Senate subcommittee later investigated this election and referred to it as "a despicable, back-street type of campaign", as well as recommending that the use of defamatory literature in a campaign be made grounds for expulsion from the Senate.<ref>
{{cite book
  |last = Cook
  |first = Fred J.
  |title = The Nightmare Decade: The Life and Times of Senator Joe McCarthy
  |publisher = Random House
  |year=  1971
  |pages = 150–151
  |isbn = 0-394-46270-X}}</ref> The pamphlet was clearly labeled a composite. McCarthy said it was "wrong" to distribute it; though staffer Jean Kerr thought it was fine. After he lost the election by almost 40,000 votes, Tydings claimed foul play.

In addition to the Tydings–Butler race, McCarthy campaigned for several other Republicans in the [[1950 United States Senate elections|1950 elections]], including [[Everett Dirksen]] against Democratic incumbent and Senate Majority Leader [[Scott W. Lucas]]. Dirksen, and indeed all the candidates McCarthy supported, won their elections, and those he opposed lost. The elections, including many that McCarthy was not involved in, were an overall Republican sweep. Although his impact on the elections was unclear, McCarthy was credited as a key Republican campaigner. He was now regarded as one of the most powerful men in the Senate and was treated with new-found deference by his colleagues.<ref>
{{cite book
  |last = Cook
  |first = Fred J.
  |title = The Nightmare Decade: The Life and Times of Senator Joe McCarthy
  |publisher = Random House
  |year=  1971
  |page = 316
  |isbn = 0-394-46270-X}}</ref> In the 1952 Senate elections McCarthy was returned to his Senate seat with 54.2% of the vote, compared to Democrat Thomas Fairchild's 45.6%. As of 2020, McCarthy is the last Republican to win Wisconsin's Class 1 Senate seat.

{{Election box begin no change
| title=1952 Wisconsin U.S. Senate election}}
{{Election box winning candidate with party link no change
  |party      = Republican Party (United States)
  |candidate  = Joseph McCarthy
  |votes      = 870,444
  |percentage = 54.2
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link no change
  |party      = Democratic Party (United States)
  |candidate  = [[Thomas E. Fairchild]]
  |votes      = 731,402
  |percentage = 45.6
}}
{{Election box total no change
  | votes = 1,601,846
  | percentage = 99.8
}}
{{Election box hold with party link no change
 |winner = Republican Party (United States)
 |loser =
 |swing =
}}
{{Election box end}}