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You mean I'm supposed to stand on that?" In February 1950, Senator Joseph McCarthy captured headlines by his claims that he held in his hand, a list of names of some 205 communists in the State Department which he did not reveal. Many members of Congress, influenced by his success, began to support his heavy-handed and abusive tactics for political purposes. Here conservative Republican senators, Kenneth S. Wherry, Robert A. Taft, and Styles Bridges and Republican National Chairman Guy Gabrielson push a reluctant GOP elephant to mount the unsavory platform. This was the first use of the word "McCarthyism."

"You mean I'm supposed to stand on that?" March 29, 1950 Reproduction from original drawing Published in the Washington Post (27) McCarthyism the persecution of innocent people by powerful but unproved allegations; refers to U.S. Sen. Joseph McCarthy's charges of high treason in the federal government in 1950s; accusations of Communist sympathies were readily accepted by anxious post-war Americans; furor sparked blacklisting in ...McCarthyism is a term for the widespread accusations and investigations of suspected Communist activities in the United States during the 1950's. The word came from the name of Senator Joseph R. McCarthy. McCarthy, a Wisconsin Republican, made numerous charges—usually with little evidence—that certain public officials and other individuals were Communists or cooperated with Communists.

McCarthyism developed during the Cold War, a period of great hostility between the Communist and non-Communist nations. In the late 1940's and the 1950's, a number of events related to this struggle alarmed and frustrated many Americans. For example, Communists took over Czechoslovakia and China. The Soviet Union exploded its first atomic bomb and equipped the North Korean Communist forces that invaded South Korea. This invasion touched off the Korean War (1950-1953).

Meanwhile, charges that Americans had served as Soviet spies received wide attention. Alger Hiss, a former official of the U.S. Department of State, was accused of giving government secrets to a Soviet spy during the 1930's. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, an American couple, were convicted of passing military secrets to Soviet agents in the 1940's. See Hiss, Alger; Rosenberg, Julius and Ethel.

As Communism appeared more and more threatening, the federal government began to search for secret Communists among its employees. In 1947, President Harry S. Truman established agencies called loyalty boards to investigate federal workers. Truman ordered the dismissal of any government employee whose loyalty appeared questionable. That same year, the U.S. attorney general established a list of organizations that the Department of Justice considered disloyal. Government agencies used the list as a guide to help determine the loyalty of employees and of people seeking jobs.

McCarthy first gained national attention in 1950, when he charged that Communists dominated the State Department. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee investigated the department but found no Communists or Communist sympathizers there. Nevertheless, McCarthy made numerous additional accusations and gained many followers. He and other conservatives blamed many of the nation's problems on the supposed secret presence of Communists in the government.

Picture Joseph McCarthy Censure The accusations and investigations spread quickly and affected thousands of people. Librarians, college professors, entertainers, journalists, clergy, and others came under suspicion. Some firms blacklisted (refused to hire) people accused of Communist associations. Many employees, to keep their jobs, were required to take oaths of loyalty to the government. McCarthyism gradually declined after 1954. Among the factors that contributed to its decline were the end of the Korean War in 1953 and the condemnation of McCarthy by the Senate for conduct unbecoming a senator in 1954. In addition, from 1955 to 1958, the Supreme Court of the United States made a series of decisions that helped protect the rights of people accused of sympathizing with Communists. Today, the term McCarthyism is sometimes used to refer to reckless public accusations of disloyalty to the United States.

McCarthyism and the “Red Scare” In February 1950 Joseph McCarthy, a little-known first-term Republican senator from Wisconsin, claimed he had obtained a list of 205 communists who were working in the State Department. Although he possessed little or no actual knowledge of communist activity, McCarthy was nonetheless catapulted to national prominence as he exploited the press with thundering quotes and unfounded accusations. Virtually no one was safe from McCarthy’s suspicion: he even went so far as to accuse the Secretary of Defense, George C. Marshall, of being a “conscious agent of Soviet Russia” (Mooney, p. 106). When his investigation was unable to turn up any communists in the State Department, he instead widened his search, attacking “books that his suspects had written, the reforms they had supported, and the people who had associated with them” (Bailyn, p. 781). When challenged, McCarthy was quick to attack the personal integrity of those who opposed him. Fearful of being accused themselves, many stood silent.

Other senators such as William Jenner joined McCarthy in his feverish search for communists in America. In 1952 Jenner said, “I charge that Page 85 | Top of Article this country is in the hands of a secret inner coferie which is directed by agents of the Soviet Union” (Bailyn, p. 781). Understandably, the average American was frightened to hear elected officials make such statements; soon much of the country was on the lookout for communists. Artists, writers, and university professors came under heavy scrutiny as suspicion grew to the point where virtually all forms of liberalism were suspected as communist. The environment in America became one where “a perverse kind of democracy was practiced: all accusations, no matter from whom, were taken equally seriously. Reputations, friendships, and careers popped like bubbles at the prick of the charge, ‘Communist!’” (Bailyn, p. 779).

Finally, after several years of intimidation and unsubstantiated charges, Joseph McCarthy’s fearsome influence began to wane. In one memorable encounter during the televised hearings, attorney Joseph Nye Welch—who had been retained by the secretary of the Army to refute charges made against him—finally commented to McCarthy that “until this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or recklessness.... Have you no sense of decency sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?” In 1954 the Senate voted by a 67-22 margin to condemn McCarthy, and his power faded away

Justice is the concept of moral rightness based on ethics, rationality, law, natural law, fairness and equity. Due to justice it keeps our country safe for all of us. If there was no justice in this world people would be going around doing whatever they want causing corruption. Justice is the right of every American citizen and should be used equally to every man or women, black or white, and young or old. It protects every American and their rights, and if these rights aren’t protected than the constitution is not fulfilled. Due to race and sex justice is sometime unfair to the American citizens. The main subject of justice I want to focus on is the court system. Back in the early stages of the united states the court system was unfair to some american. These days it is still unfair but it is gradually getting better