McCarthy, Joseph R.

McCarthy, Joseph R. (Raymond)

(1909–57) U.S. senator; born in Grand Chute, Wis. After taking his law degree at Marquette University (1935), he served as a judge in Wisconsin (1939–42), then served with the U.S. Marines in World War II. Elected to the U.S. Senate (Rep., Wis.; 1947–57), he remained an obscure figure in his early years in Washington. But in February 1950 he won lasting notoriety by charging that the U.S. State Department had been infiltrated by Communists. His wild, unsubstantiated charges and headline-grabbing investigations of Communists in the foreign service, the U.S. Information Agency, and the military over the next few years led historians to label the early 1950s the "McCarthy era"; the use of unsubstantiated accusations and unfair investigative practices in order to charge disloyalty or enforce conformity has become known as "McCarthyism." Censured by his Senate colleagues in December 1954, he lost influence quickly, and died of alcoholism-related ailments in 1957.

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.