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Joseph Raymond McCarthy was an American politician who served as a Republican 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 alleged that numerous communists and Soviet spies and sympathizers had infiltrated the United States federal government, universities, film industry, and elsewhere. Ultimately, he was censured for refusing to cooperate with, and abusing members of, the committee established to investigate whether or not he should be censured. 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 more broadly to mean demagogic, reckless, and unsubstantiated accusations, as well as public attacks on the character or patriotism of political opponents.
The 1952 United States presidential election was the 42nd quadrennial presidential election and was held on Tuesday, November 4, 1952. Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower won a landslide victory over Illinois Democratic Governor Adlai Stevenson II, becoming the first Republican president in 20 years. This was the first election since 1928 without an incumbent president on the ballot. Eisenhower was re-elected in 1956 in a rematch with Stevenson.
McCarthyism, also known as the Second Red Scare, was the political repression and persecution of left-wing individuals and a campaign spreading fear of alleged communist and Soviet influence on American institutions and of Soviet espionage in the United States during the late 1940s through the 1950s. After the mid-1950s, U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy, who had spearheaded the campaign, gradually lost his public popularity and credibility after several of his accusations were found to be false. The U.S. Supreme Court under Chief Justice Earl Warren made a series of rulings on civil and political rights that overturned several key laws and legislative directives, and helped bring an end to the Second Red Scare. Historians have suggested since the 1980s that as McCarthy's involvement was less central than that of others, a different and more accurate term should be used instead that more accurately conveys the breadth of the phenomenon, and that the term McCarthyism is, in the modern day, outdated. Ellen Schrecker has suggested that Hooverism, after FBI Head J. Edgar Hoover, is more appropriate.
Margaret Madeline Chase Smith was an American politician. A member of the Republican Party, she served as a U.S. representative (1940–1949) and a U.S. senator (1949–1973) from Maine. She was the first woman to serve in both houses of the United States Congress, and the first woman to represent Maine in either. A Republican, she was among the first to criticize the tactics of Joseph McCarthy in her 1950 speech, "Declaration of Conscience".
Robert Marion La Follette Jr. was an American politician who served as United States senator from Wisconsin from 1925 to 1947. A member of the La Follette family, he was often referred to by the nickname "Young Bob" to distinguish him from his father, Robert M. "Fighting Bob" La Follette, who had served as a U.S. senator and governor of Wisconsin. Robert Jr., along with his brother Philip La Follette, carried on their father's legacy of progressive politics and founded the Wisconsin Progressive Party. Robert Jr. was the last major Progressive Party politician in the U.S. Senate, ending in 1946 when the party disbanded. La Follette was defeated in the 1946 Republican Senate primary by Joseph McCarthy.
Oliver Burgess Meredith was an American actor and filmmaker whose career encompassed radio, theater, film, and television.
Andrew Russell Pearson was an American columnist, noted for his syndicated newspaper column "Washington Merry-Go-Round". He also had a program on NBC Radio titled Drew Pearson Comments. He was known for his approach towards high level politicians, such as senators, cabinet members, generals and American presidents.
Joseph Nye Welch was an American lawyer and actor who served as the chief counsel for the United States Army while it was under investigation for Communist activities by Senator Joseph McCarthy's Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, an investigation known as the Army–McCarthy hearings. His confrontation with McCarthy during the hearings, in which he asked McCarthy "At long last, have you left no sense of decency?", is seen as a turning point in the history of McCarthyism.
Lester Callaway Hunt, Sr., was an American Democratic politician from the state of Wyoming. Hunt was the first to be elected to two consecutive terms as Wyoming's governor, serving as its 19th governor from January 4, 1943, to January 3, 1949. In 1948, he was elected by an overwhelming margin to the U.S. Senate, and began his term on January 3, 1949.
Kevin McCarthy was an American stage, film and television actor, remembered as the male lead in the horror science fiction film Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956).
Robert Henry Winborne Welch Jr. was an American businessman, political organizer, and conspiracy theorist. He was wealthy following his retirement from the candy business and used his wealth to sponsor anti-communist causes. He co-founded the John Birch Society (JBS), an American right-wing political advocacy group, in 1958 and tightly controlled it until his death. He was highly controversial and criticized by liberals, as well as some conservatives, including William F. Buckley Jr. only after being an early donor to Buckley’s National Review in the 1950s.
The Army–McCarthy hearings were a series of televised hearings held by the United States Senate's Subcommittee on Investigations to investigate conflicting accusations between the United States Army and U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy. The Army accused McCarthy and his chief counsel Roy Cohn of pressuring the Army to give preferential treatment to G. David Schine, a former McCarthy aide and friend of Cohn's. McCarthy counter-charged that this accusation was made in bad faith and in retaliation for his recent aggressive investigations of suspected communists and security risks in the Army.
The Wisconsin State Journal is a daily newspaper published in Madison, Wisconsin by Lee Enterprises. The newspaper, the second largest in Wisconsin, is primarily distributed in a 19 county region in south-central Wisconsin. As of September 2018, the Wisconsin State Journal had an average weekday circulation of 51,303 and an average Sunday circulation of 64,820. The State Journal is the state's official newspaper of record, and statutes and laws passed are regarded as official seven days after the publication of a state legal notice.
Good Night, and Good Luck is a 2005 historical drama film about American television news directed by George Clooney, with the movie starring David Strathairn, Patricia Clarkson, Jeff Daniels, Robert Downey Jr., and Frank Langella as well as Clooney himself. The film was co-written by Clooney and Grant Heslov, and it portrays the conflict between veteran journalist Edward R. Murrow (Strathairn) and U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin, especially relating to the anti-communist Senator's actions with the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.
Frederick George Fisher Jr. was an American lawyer who first entered the public eye in connection with Senator Joseph McCarthy.
Walter Jodok Kohler Jr. was a member of the Kohler family of Wisconsin and was the 33rd Governor of Wisconsin, serving three terms from 1951 to 1957. He was a leading figure in state and national Republican Party activities. His role in the clash between Senator Joseph R. McCarthy and presidential candidate Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952 has interested historians for decades. Kohler was for many years a sales executive at the Kohler Company and served as president at The Vollrath Company. He was also a distinguished Naval officer in World War II. He had two children—a son, Terry Jodok Kohler, and daughter, Charlotte Nicolette Kohler.
President Harry S. Truman signed United States Executive Order 9835, sometimes known as the "Loyalty Order", on March 21, 1947. The order established the first general loyalty program in the United States, designed to root out communist influence in the U.S. federal government. Truman aimed to rally public opinion behind his Cold War policies with investigations conducted under its authority. He also hoped to quiet right-wing critics who accused Democrats of being soft on communism. At the same time, he advised the Loyalty Review Board to limit the role of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to avoid a witch hunt. The program investigated over 3 million government employees, just over 300 of whom were dismissed as security risks.
Tailgunner Joe, Tail Gunner Joe, Tail-Gunner Joe, and similar variants typically refer to Joseph McCarthy (1908–1957), Republican United States senator from Wisconsin from 1947 to 1957.
The 1946 United States Senate election in Wisconsin was held on November 5, 1946.
The 1952 United States presidential election in Wisconsin was held on November 4, 1952 as part of the 1952 United States presidential election. State voters chose 12 electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
References
- ↑ Garraty, John (1989). 1,001 Things Everyone Should Know About American History . New York: Doubleday. p. 24. ISBN 0-385-24432-0.
- ↑ Carmody, John (February 5, 1977). "'Tail Gunner Joe': A Look Back in Anger". The Washington Post .
- ↑ "TAIL GUNNER JOE (TV) (1977 USA)". ModCinema.com. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
