Senator Joseph McCarthy begins hearings investigating the United States Army, which he charges with being âsoftâ on communism. These televised hearings gave the American public their first view of McCarthy in action, and his recklessness, indignant bluster, and bullying tactics quickly resulted in his fall from prominence.
In February 1950, Senator McCarthy charged that there were over 200 âknown communistsâ in the Department of State. Thus began his dizzying rise to fame as the most famous and feared communist hunter in the United States. McCarthy adeptly manipulated the media, told ever more outrageous stories concerning the communist conspiracy in the United States, and smeared any opponents as âcommunist sympathizersâ to keep his own name in the headlines for years. By 1954, however, his power was beginning to wane. While he had been useful to the Republican Party during the years of the Democratic administration of President Harry S. Truman, his continued attacks on âcommunists in governmentâ after Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower took over the White House in 1953 were becoming political liabilities.
In an effort to reinvigorate his declining popularity, McCarthy made a dramatic accusation that was a crucial mistake: in early 1954, he charged that the United States Army was âsoftâ on communism. McCarthy was indignant because David Schine, one of his former investigators, had been drafted and the Army, much to McCarthyâs surprise, refused the special treatment he demanded for his former aide. In April 1954, McCarthy, chairman of the Government Operations Committee in the Senate, opened televised hearings into his charges against the Army.
The hearings were a fiasco for McCarthy. He constantly interrupted with irrelevant questions and asides; yelled âpoint of orderâ whenever testimony was not to his liking; and verbally attacked witnesses, attorneys for the Army, and his fellow senators. The climax came when McCarthy slandered an associate of the Armyâs chief counsel, Joseph Welch. Welch fixed McCarthy with a steady glare and declared evenly, âUntil this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessnessâŚHave you no sense of decency, sir, at long last?â A stunned McCarthy listened as the packed audience exploded into cheers and applause. McCarthyâs days as a political power were effectively over. A few weeks later, the Army hearings dribbled to a close with little fanfare and no charges were upheld against the Army by the committee. In December 1954, the Senate voted to censure McCarthy for his conduct. Three years later he died of complications from cirrhosis of the liver.
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On December 2, 1954, the Senate voted to censure Senator McCarthy by a vote of 67â22, making him one of the few senators ever to be disciplined in this fashion. He continued to speak against communism and socialism until his death at the age of 48 at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland, on May 2, 1957.
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