McCarthyism

McCarthyism

 Joseph McCarthy was and will always be in my eyes one of the most controversial figures in politics. McCarthyism has been heard from by all sides and McCarthy himself has been attacked by the left side and defended by some on the right. McCarthyism still sneaks its way into the politics of today.

This controversy came to be in February 1950, when McCarthy declared that he had a list of 204 known communists hiding in the state department. This was dismissed by many but for others it stuck and was then worked upon. Communism was an up and coming thing in countries over seas such as china and throughout Asia. Communist parties were expanding all over the world, the soviet Union had just dropped an atomic bomb through through the help of spies in the United States.  McCarthy was never able to prove this original claim that he had made . For the next few years he went on a rampage accusing high ranking officials.

 During the year of 1953 McCarthy used his power as chairman of the senate subcommittee  to do behind the scenes investigations on government officials. McCarthy accused an Army official of covering up  espionage activities. The Army thus responded by questioning the way McCarthy conducted his investigations accusing him and his followers bribed and threatened members of the army for favors. These charges were cleared but McCarthy was censured for his unjust ways of investigation.
McCarthy was cleared of the charges, but the Senate censured him for his unfair investigative methods.  McCarthy's influenced waned steadily after that, but the controversy remained alive. McCarthy caused lots of controversy in the state his status after being censured began to plummet and supporters began to move on but the controversy that he set up has stayed firm.

Much has been said about McCarthy such as him using fear of communism to gain political power. it was also said that he was trying to put the protection from Communism above peoples rights. Both these arguments had evidence to support them  due to the collapse of the Soviet Union, many espionage records showed that few of the people McCarthy accused of being communists actually were working for the USSR but those few cannot make up for the hundreds of peoples lives he destroyed. These accusations destroyed there reputations and careers. McCarthy has stayed intact in the political scene for these past sixty and will stay there for quite a while longer.