ipl-logo

How Did Joe Mccarthy Get In Power

506 Words3 Pages

In history there have been many powerful leaders and personalities who have used deceit . Some used it to gain power while others used it for other purposes. The people that have lied to gain power mainly lied during elections or started a revolution. For example, Lenin said that Russia would change with him all a lie. In the U.S. there have been some presidents and elected official have lied to get in power and while they were in power. In times of fear they would lie to make the people feel safe or perhaps to make themselves look like a hero. Joe McCarthy almost destroyed with relentless pursuit of communists and his invasion of Americas first amendment rights. Joe McCarthy was born on November 14 1908, in Appleton Wisconsin. His family …show more content…

McCarthy quit being a lawyer and became a circuit court judge, this foreshadows the era of McCarthyism. Later he quits his job and joined the military. More specifically the navy. He worked a desk job, but claimed that he was a successful tailgunner. After his short military career, McCarthy ran as the republican candidate for the Wisconsin senate. This is where McCarthy started his reign of lying and terror. He started propaganda against his opponent(Robert La Follette) to promote himself;and the biggest lie that McCarthy did(in the campaign) was that Robert didn’t join the military. Since McCarthy damaged Roberts reputation McCarthy won the election and became a senator from Wisconsin. When the re-election came closer McCarthy was worried since his first term was unimpressive. McCarthy panicked as he searched for ways of political success. Edmund Walsh a catholic priest suggested that McCarthy should attack the communists. McCarthy accepted to the idea and began his crusade against communism. McCarthy took advantage of the fear of communists in America and started to call them out; and on February 9 1950 claimed he had a list of 205 people in the state department that were all communists. The American public got worried when they heard that and started to panic. McCarthy was determined to catch communists on any level with no proof. McCarthy got out of hand and started a witch hunt. The press wrote down anything

Show More
Related
891 Words | 4 Pages

McCarthy used this to further his career and public standing by dragging people’s names through the mud and ending their careers. Needless to say that the issue McCarthy addresses is a highly emotional subject and needs to broach with great care. McCarthy uses good and sometimes logical fallacies to argue his point, however he also uses strong bold statements to encourage the president to give him the records he wants to continue his witch hunt in America. After listing his demands McCarthy states, “Failure on your part will label the Democratic Party of being the bedfellow of international communism.

Read More
584 Words | 3 Pages

In McCarthy’s speech in Wheeling, West Virginia, he mentions how there were communists throughout the government. He targeted those treated well by the Nation, such as the wealthy and white-collar workers. Attacking people born with silver spoons in their mouths, those who are born privileged, and claiming the ones in the government are Communists increases the amount of fear the Americans had that communism was spreading. Despite McCarthy’s accusations that these people were communists, he never provided evidence that supported his claim. McCarthy’s “witch hunt” for Communists, also known as McCarthyism, was a movement he used to make himself more powerful and to discredit the Truman

Read More
1368 Words | 6 Pages

The government, including McCarthy, wanted more power also at this time. It all was a big mess. It seemed like McCarthy wanted the power more than everyone else. So he started to try and take control of things. If he thought that a person was a communist then he would call them out and take almost everything from them even if they were not communists.

Read More
1626 Words | 7 Pages

McCarthy doesn’t know for sure whether or not any of the politicians he is accusing are guilty are not. Everyone listens to him though because he is saying what they want to hear. These are ways that rumors start when someone is looking to you, and you just want power. Joseph McCarthy is just like the girls in “The Crucible” he wants to be heard, while also having power. In both these instances they get more than what they thought they were

Read More
347 Words | 2 Pages

In the 1940 's and 1950 's, an anti-Communist movement swept the United States of America. Fueled by the anti-Communist actions of Congress, particularly a Senator from Wisconsin by the name of Joseph McCarthy, the movement escalated and many people lost their jobs as a result of various blacklists. Congressional hearings, both in front of HUAC and McCarthy Senate committee were a study in organized persecution. The actions taken during the "Red Scare" were eventually given the general name McCarthyism. McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of subversion or treason without proper regard for evidence.

Read More
801 Words | 4 Pages

Nationwide paranoia, a witch hunt for communists, and the omittance of citizen’s democratic rights all were the result of the efforts of one person, Joseph R. McCarthy, a senator from Wisconsin. Joseph R. McCarthy made those efforts all for one reason, to gain a re-election to another term in Senate. Because of his distinct immoral behavior, Joseph R. McCarthy did not uphold his responsibilities as a senator. To explain why Senator Joseph R. McCarthy did not uphold his responsibilities as a senator, we must first examine what the responsibilities of a senator are.

Read More
1215 Words | 5 Pages

He often was stuck with making tough decisions and controversial topics. One of the main causes for his issues was Senator Joseph R. McCarthy of Wisconsin, who often said Communist spies or communist sympathizers were holding high power offices in the

Read More
1711 Words | 7 Pages

McCarthy manipulated the media, told outrageous stories about the communist conspiracy in the United States, and used his power and America’s fear to besmirch any opponents as “communist sympathizers” to make sure he remained at the top. Actually, most conservative members of Congress supported McCarthy because it helped them gain votes during elections. The majority of McCarthy 's movement attacked liberals and members of the Democratic Party and this aided anyone who was not part of those topics and organizations. Then McCarthy began to target the Army because they wouldn’t favor David Schine, one of his former investigators, who had been drafted in. “Senator Joseph McCarthy began hearings investigating the United States Army, which he charged with being ‘soft’ on communism.

Read More
807 Words | 4 Pages

McCarthy created the uproar of having a ‘witch hunt’ on communists in America. His influence on the people gave him credibility when he accused those innocent people. “He cited 81 cases that day. He skipped several numbers, and for some cases repeated the same flimsy information. He proved nothing, but the Senate called for a full investigation.”(ushistory.org).

Read More
759 Words | 4 Pages

McCarthy was trusted with his claims even though he had no evidence to prove it, people that he said were communists were looked down upon and couldn’t properly do their jobs with this negative view on them. Abigail has a similar story, where the higher ups in the church immediately believed her despite the lack of proof and where the people she was accusing were tried in court and a majority put to

Read More
178 Words | 1 Pages

Sam Robert’s article, “A Decade of Fear” explains how McCarthyism turned Americans against each other after World War 2. In the first place he lied about communists being in the U.S. senate. As stated in Sam Robert’s article, “News of McCarthy’s accusations against the state dept. of president Harry Truman sent shock waves across the nation.” McCarty’s statements made him look like a gallant anticommunist and gave him power. As a matter of fact, he was considered more of a witch hunter.

Read More
684 Words | 3 Pages

Joseph McCarthy gained power because of people’s fear of communism (“Red Monday”). McCarthy claimed that 205 government officials were communists without supporting it with evidence which caused a panic (Fried 1). Frightened Americans asked for an explanation and instead McCarthy accused people, but he had the people’s support because he was against communists and that blinded people to the true facts (Fried 1). With the Smith Act and the House Un-American Activities Committee in place to ease the fear of communism, McCarthy’s unjust trials were able to be conducted (“Red Monday”). Rights were quickly being taken away to prevent the spread of communism, however, it was so that McCarthy could keep gaining power without anyone being able to say otherwise (“Red Monday”).

Read More
608 Words | 3 Pages

The Soviet Union was on the verge of a nuclear war, so McCarthy put fear in everyone because no one had any idea who was a communist and who was not. He made everyone afraid to trust people, even the friends other had. They were afraid that they would be accused

Read More
296 Words | 2 Pages

McCarthy and McCarthyism rose to prominence at a time when large numbers of Americans were in the fear of the beginning of the Cold War and the Communism. Thus, although most of McCarthy’s accusations

Read More
497 Words | 2 Pages

It was derived from the fear and hatred they had deep inside them. Mccarthy used this plot to get rid of his opponents and secure him a prime spot for a next term as a senator. McCarthy’s trials were no different to The Salem witch trials by raising suspitions he was able to destroy lives with a written list. Although people tried to contradict his allegations the majority’s fear of communists clouded the court’s judgement. They had no remorse for the aftermath of their doings.

Read More

More about How Did Joe Mccarthy Get In Power

Related Topics

Open Document