Joseph McCarthy facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Joseph Raymond McCarthy
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| United States Senator from Wisconsin |
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| In office January 3, 1947 – May 2, 1957 |
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| Preceded by | Robert M. La Follette, Jr. |
| Succeeded by | William Proxmire |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 300px November 14, 1908 Grand Chute, Wisconsin |
| Died | May 2, 1957 (aged 48) Bethesda, Maryland |
| Resting place | 300px |
| Nationality | American |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | Jean Kerr McCarthy |
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| Signature | .gif) |
Joseph Raymond McCarthy (November 14, 1908 – May 2, 1957) was an American politician who served as U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death 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 Communist subversion.
He is known for alleging that numerous Communists and Soviet spies and sympathizers had infiltrated the United States federal government, universities, film industry, and elsewhere. Ultimately, the smear tactics that he used led him to be censured by the U.S. Senate. The term "McCarthyism", coined in 1950 in reference to McCarthy's practices, was soon applied to similar anti-communist activities. Today, the term is used in reference to what are considered reckless, and unsubstantiated accusations, as well as public attacks on the character or patriotism of political opponents.
Early life and education
McCarthy was born in 1908 on a farm in Grand Chute, Wisconsin, the fifth of nine children. His mother, Bridget McCarthy (nee Tierney), was from County Tipperary, Ireland. His father, Timothy McCarthy, was born in the United States, the son of an Irish father and a German mother. McCarthy dropped out of junior high school at age 14 to help his parents manage their farm. He entered Little Wolf High School, in Manawa, Wisconsin, when he was 20 and graduated in one year.
He attended Marquette University from 1930 to 1935. McCarthy worked his way through college by coaching, boxing etc. He first studied electrical engineering for two years, then law, and received a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1935 from Marquette University Law School in Milwaukee.
Career
McCarthy was admitted to the bar in 1935. He was commissioned to the Marine Corps in 1942, where he served as an intelligence briefing officer for a dive bomber squadron. Following the end of World War II, he attained the rank of major. He volunteered to fly twelve combat missions as a gunner-observer, acquiring the nickname "Tail-Gunner Joe".
McCarthy successfully ran for the U.S. Senate in 1946, defeating Robert M. La Follette Jr.. He rose to national fame in February 1950 when he mentioned 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 State Department. 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 U.S. Army.
One of the strongest bases of anti-Communist sentiment in the United States was the Catholic community, which constituted over 20% of the national vote. McCarthy identified himself as Catholic, and although the great majority of Catholics were Democrats, as his fame as a leading anti-Communist grew, he became popular in Catholic communities across the country, with strong support from many leading Catholics, diocesan newspapers, and Catholic journals.
On December 2, 1954, the Senate voted to censure Senator McCarthy by a vote of 67–22, making him one of the few senators ever to be disciplined in this fashion.
Final years
After his condemnation and censure, Joseph McCarthy continued to perform his senatorial duties for another two and a half years. His career as a major public figure, however, had been ruined. His colleagues in the Senate avoided him; his speeches on the Senate floor were delivered to a near-empty chamber or received with intentional and conspicuous displays of inattention.
McCarthy's biographers agree that he was a changed man, for the worse, after the censure; declining both physically and emotionally, he became a "pale ghost of his former self", in the words of Fred J. Cook.
Death
McCarthy died in the Bethesda Naval Hospital on Thursday, May 2, 1957, at the age of 48. His death certificate listed the cause of death as "Hepatitis, acute, cause unknown"; previously doctors had not reported him to be in critical condition. He was given a state funeral that was attended by 70 senators, and a Solemn Pontifical Requiem Mass was celebrated before more than 100 priests and 2,000 others at Washington's St. Matthew's Cathedral. Thousands of people viewed his body in Washington. He was buried in St. Mary's Parish Cemetery, Appleton, Wisconsin, where more than 17,000 people filed through St. Mary's Church in order to pay him their last respects.
Images for kids
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Joseph McCarthy in his U.S. Marine Corps uniform
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McCarthy receiving his DFC and Air Medal from Colonel John R. Lanigan, commanding officer of Fifth Marine Reserve District, December 1952
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Senator Millard Tydings
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Herbert Block, who signed his work "Herblock", coined the term "McCarthyism" in this cartoon in the March 29, 1950, Washington Post.
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Dwight D. Eisenhower, 34th President of the United States
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McCarthy chats with Roy Cohn (right) at the Army-McCarthy hearings.
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Joseph N. Welch (left) being questioned by Senator McCarthy, June 9, 1954.
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Edward R. Murrow, pioneer in broadcast journalism.
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Senator Ralph Flanders, who introduced the resolution calling for McCarthy to be censured
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Senator Arthur V. Watkins
See also
In Spanish: Joseph McCarthy para niños
