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WHY DID JOSEPH MCCARTHY HAVE SUCH A BIG IMPACT? - Coggle Diagram
WHY DID JOSEPH MCCARTHY HAVE SUCH A BIG IMPACT?
WHO IS HE?
He served in the Second World War before becoming Republican and entering the Senate in 1946.
In 1950 he caused sensation after claiming to hold a list of 205 members of the Communist party working in the US State Department but was reduced to 57 later.
Promoted a public witch- hunting campaign on the Truman administration but was found to be falsifying evidence.
He was renounced by Eisenhower.
He died in 1957 of a liver disease caused by excessive alcohol intake.
He was labelled a liar, a drunk and a bully who took the anti-Communist hyster to new levels.
He did however, manage to have valuable information about spies in the government which the Venona Project has confirmed existed.
IMPACT ON PARTIES.
Republicans had the ability to make Democrats look bad by accusing them of treason.
Democrats in return had to look tough on communism and subversion by denouncing it just as forcefully.
SUPPORT.
McCathy found support from the general public. America was not doing well in the Cold War especially, in Korea. The issue of communist subversion was an excuse .
He got religious support from the Catholic Church as he himself was Catholic and Communism was atheistic and supported his ‘religious’ crusade.
Support from ethnic groups such as Poles who hated the Russians and Nazis and they fled their country to escape repression.
ENEMIES.
In 1950, the Tydings Committee looked at his accusations and called him a ‘fraud and a hoax’.
People were afraid to confront him in fear of being brought before the committee.
Although he was skilled at maintaining the attention of the press the majority of the media criticised him.
EISENHOWER
When Eisenhower was elected in 1952 many Americans hoped he would end the ‘witch hunts’ but Eisenhower said he refused ‘to get down in the gutter with that guy’.
He hoped if he ignored McCarthy he would just fade away perhaps, he was afraid of McCarthy influence!
Eisenhower even dropped a paragraph about defending his friend in a speech he made in 1953 after Geogre Marshall became McCathy’s largest target. Eisenhower was worried about slipping his party.
DECLINCE OF MCCARTHISM.
By the mid 50’s the Red Scare was ending and the McCarthy’s time was ending.
He became an embarrassment at home and abroad.
There was no need for him to attack the Democrats as weren’t in Congress anymore.
His attacks on widely respected institutions like the army and Supreme Court led to his downfall. It started in 1954 when he accused a decorated soldier and Congress attacked him publicly on TV.
The Senate censured him by a 67-22 vote.
Although his influence ended the HUAC hearings carried on for several years after and loyalty oaths stayed in for even longer.
Congress even passed a Communist Control Act.