Senator from the state of Wisconsin from until his death at age 48 in Beginning in , 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. Ultimately he was censured by the Senate in 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 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. Born in Grand Chute, Wisconsin , McCarthy commissioned into the Marine Corps in , where he served as an intelligence briefing officer for a dive bomber squadron.
Following the end of World War II he attained the rank of major. He volunteered to fly twelve combat missions as a gunner-observer. These missions were generally safe, and after one where he was allowed to shoot as much ammunition as he wanted, mainly at coconut trees, he acquired the nickname "Tail-Gunner Joe". Some of his claims of heroism were later shown to be exaggerated or falsified, leading many of his critics to use "Tail-Gunner Joe" as a term of mockery.
A Democrat until , McCarthy successfully ran for the U. Senate in as a Republican, narrowly defeating incumbent Robert M. La Follette Jr. After three largely undistinguished years in the Senate McCarthy rose suddenly to national fame in February 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. Truman , the Voice of America , and the U.
He also used various charges of communism, communist sympathies, disloyalty, or sex crimes to attack a number of politicians and other individuals inside and outside of government. Hunt that same year, [ 12 ] McCarthy's support and popularity faded. On December 2, , the Senate voted to censure McCarthy by a vote of 67โ22, making him one of the few senators ever to be disciplined in this fashion.
