The Rise and Fall of Joseph McCarthy | BRI’s Homework Help Series
Our latest Homework Help Evidence of History video tells the story of the rise and fall of Senator Joseph McCarthy, a fierce partisan and demagogue whose battles against Communism in early 1950s America utilized the new medium of television to garner public attention. Preying upon the public's fear of communism within the U.S. government, he hurled accusations against numerous political enemies often with little or no evidence, and with scant regard to the principles of due process, free speech, and liberty. The new medium of television, which helped his meteoric political rise, would ultimately play a key role in his undoing.
0:10 I shall continue to call them as I see them. Have you no sense of decency? Joseph McCarthy came from a modest background and was entrepreneurial from a young age. He sold chicken and eggs as a teenager and succeeded in a variety of fields. He served in the Marines and attained the rank of major.
0:31 He left the service and parlayed that into a political career he ran for senate in Wisconsin. He proved from the onset that he didn’t mind attacking a political opponent. People listened and were swayed. He won the primary and eventually the Senate. Communism had a meteoric rise post World War II. They had won China’s civil war. The Soviets tested their first bomb.
0:53 The senators goal was to halt Soviet influence at any cost. Calling someone a communist in America at that time was a. serious remark. He wasn’t the greatest orator but he spoke to the public’s interest in attacking communism and they listened. I think we’ve got a much more serious situation now in communism infiltration of the CIA.
1:14 From 1950 to 1954 he just hurled accusations of communism against members of not only the US government but the army as well. Many of the accused were blacklisted or lost their jobs although most did not in fact belong to the communist party. He supposedly kept the list of those in government that he found to be traitors. But things got a little out of control. The numbers of infiltrators on his list kept changing the press had to cover
1:37 him because he was creating news so the more they covered him the more people paid attention and the more people paid attention the more followers he gained. He made headlines. He saw a lot of newspapers and got a lot of TV ratings. The guy was money. But to get caught up in the hysteria and fake news there’s chaos. If you were accused and brought to trial your accuser didn’t even have to show up
1:59 in court it was like you were being taken to the gallows by a phantom. I’d at least want to see the face of the person stabbing me. In the back. Much of this was unconstitutional it went against due process freedom of speech and liberty. And these were the hallmarks of our country that he claimed to be fighting for. Television had really helped him gain the fame and power
2:20 he desired and it was television that helped lead to his downfall. Edward. R. Murrow who was already a famous voice in radio made the transition to television with the show See It Now. His piece condemning the senator was influential and is losing the public’s approval. The actions of the junior senator from Wisconsin have caused alarm and dismay amongst our allies abroad and given considerable comfort to
2:42 our enemies. What really did him in was his behavior in the army hearings. He had investigated communism within the army and the army had made their own accusations of blackmail against McCarthy. He just unraveled. His team doctored photos and memos made bizarre accusations. It was great television, but not very befitting of a member
3:03 of the Senate, or any upstanding member of society for that matter. Things came to a head with Joseph Welsh, a member of the Army’s Council. And finally Welsh just had enough and exploded on them. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Eventually, a vote was taken to censure him within the Senate.
3:26 He was effectively frozen out. Senators stopped attending his speeches. He faded away. He battled demons in secret and was dead by the age of 47 while still in office. But even in those last couple of years, he was still eager to destroy communism in the United States. Looking back, it’s chilling to think it even happened.
3:49 It was a failure of our government’s duty to its citizens. What began as a noble cause very quickly became national panic. It was pandemonial. Joseph McCarthy was a demagogue in its purest definition. I realized that getting caught in the moment is a dangerous thing, and reflection is always in, especially when your actions can influence others.
4:10 This was a piece of evidence of history.