Joseph McCarthy

This war in which we are now engaged, is not, cannot be a war between America's two great political parties. As of tonight, we are not winning this war. Keep in mind that 106 years ago when this war was declared, you could number the active communists on the fingers of both your hands. 97 years later, the number was 180 million human soles. As of tonight, the 17th day of March 1954, just eight years later, the figure is not 180 million. As of tonight, the figure is 800 million people. 800 million people, in communist slavery. My good friends, no brutalitarian force has ever achieved that success before in the history of this world.
I would like to challenge that communist party, which shuts down the line to be followed by all communists throughout the United States. I would like to challenge them to tell us who the secret Communist is. Who is so high in the party that he can set the line?

McCarthy

Joseph Raymond McCarthy (November 14, 1908 -- May 2, 1957) 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 of extreme anti-communist suspicion inspired by the tensions of the Cold War. He was noted for making claims that there were large numbers of Communists and Soviet spies and sympathizers inside the federal government and elsewhere. Ultimately, McCarthy's tactics and his inability to substantiate his claims led to his being discredited and censured by the United States Senate. The term "McCarthyism," coined in 1950 in reference to McCarthy's practices, was soon applied to similar anti-communist pursuits. Today the term is used more generally to describe demagogic, reckless, and unsubstantiated accusations, as well as public attacks on the character or patriotism of political opponents. Born and raised on a Wisconsin farm, McCarthy earned a law degree at Marquette University in 1935 and was elected as a circuit judge in 1939, the youngest in state history. At age 33, McCarthy volunteered for the United States Marine Corps and served during World War II. He successfully ran for the United States Senate in 1946, defeating Robert M. La Follette, Jr. After several largely undistinguished years in the Senate, McCarthy rose suddenly to national fame in 1950 when he asserted in a speech that he had a list of "members of the Communist Party and members of a spy ring" who were employed in the State Department.