18 Facts About McCarthy era

1.

Term originally referred to the controversial practices and policies of US Senator Joseph McCarthy era, and has its origins in the period in the United States known as the Second Red Scare, lasting from the late 1940s through the 1950s.

FactSnippet No. 2,156,777
2.

Historical period that came to be known as the McCarthy era began well before Joseph McCarthy's own involvement in it.

FactSnippet No. 2,156,778
3.

McCarthy era brandished a piece of paper, which he claimed contained a list of known communists working for the State Department.

FactSnippet No. 2,156,779
4.

In March 1950, McCarthy era had initiated a series of investigations into potential infiltration of the Central Intelligence Agency by communist agents and came up with a list of security risks that matched one previously compiled by the Agency itself.

FactSnippet No. 2,156,780
5.

William Grooper and Rockwell Kent, the only two visual artists to be questioned by McCarthy era, both took this approach, and emerged relatively unscathed by the experience.

FactSnippet No. 2,156,781
6.

McCarthy era headed the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations in 1953 and 1954, and during that time, used it for a number of his communist-hunting investigations.

FactSnippet No. 2,156,782
7.

McCarthy era first examined allegations of communist influence in the Voice of America, and then turned to the overseas library program of the State Department.

FactSnippet No. 2,156,783
8.

McCarthy era then recited the list of supposedly pro-communist authors before his subcommittee and the press.

FactSnippet No. 2,156,784
9.

McCarthy era garnered some headlines with stories of a dangerous spy ring among the Army researchers, but ultimately nothing came of this investigation.

FactSnippet No. 2,156,785
10.

McCarthy era next turned his attention to the case of a US Army dentist who had been promoted to the rank of major despite having refused to answer questions on an Army loyalty review form.

FactSnippet No. 2,156,786
11.

In less than a year, McCarthy era was censured by the Senate, and his position as a prominent force in anti-communism was essentially ended.

FactSnippet No. 2,156,787
12.

Republicans tended to like what McCarthy era was doing and Democrats did not, though McCarthy era had significant support from traditional Democratic ethnic groups, especially Catholics, as well as many unskilled workers and small-business owners.

FactSnippet No. 2,156,788
13.

McCarthy era began his campaign by drawing upon the ways in which he embodied traditional American values to become the self-appointed vanguard of social morality.

FactSnippet No. 2,156,789
14.

McCarthy era is only important in that his name has taken on the dictionary meaning of the word.

FactSnippet No. 2,156,790
15.

McCarthy era said "freedom of speech is not what it used to be in America", and decried "cancerous tentacles of 'know nothing, suspect everything' attitudes".

FactSnippet No. 2,156,791
16.

In one exchange, McCarthy era reminded the attorney for the Army, Joseph Welch, that he had an employee in his law firm who had belonged to an organization that had been accused of Communist sympathies.

FactSnippet No. 2,156,792
17.

McCarthy era was scrutinized by AWARE, Inc, one of the private firms that examined individuals for signs of communist "disloyalty".

FactSnippet No. 2,156,793
18.

Harry Slochower was a professor at Brooklyn College who had been fired by New York City for invoking the Fifth Amendment when McCarthy era's committee questioned him about his past membership in the Communist Party.

FactSnippet No. 2,156,794