McCarthy+Hearings-+p7

The Joseph McCarthy Hearings by: ANNAMARIE

Early 1954, this is when the hearings to prove that Senator Joseph McCarthy's charges were fraudulent were starting to take place. He had originally accused 205 people of being communists in the State Department. Because of the lack of evidence, this number was later lowered to 57. It was in the Senate Office Building that all of this action was to take place. These hearings were nationally televised and for three straight months, the population of America tuned in to listen to McCarthy try to defend his charges. But, Americans weren't only glued to their TV sets for the latest updates on the court cases. The majority of our population was still under the assumption that communists were a supreme threat to our country.

Another interesting topic that goes along with Joe's charges is the number of individual people he accused. Senator McCarthy originally claimed to know 205 people in the State Department that were communists or card carrying members of the party. He later was forced to lower this number to 57 because of the lack of evidence against these people. McCarthy accused anyone who opposed him of being a communist or communist spy. He did this to gain popularity among the public and people who were suffering from the Cold War in the United States. Many of these people actually had careers and lives before McCarthy made his charges.

Edward R. Murrow, a journalist in the 1950's, disagreed with Joe McCarthy's ideas and printed his opinions in a magazine article. When McCarthy read this, he proceeded to accuse Murrow of being a card-carrying member of the Communist Party. Another one of McCarthy's victims was randomly selected during the hearings of the previous people he accused; his name was Joseph Welch. Welch was a member of the group of lawyers and officers opposing McCarthy in the hearings. This was a result of McCarthy falling behind in the number of cases he was winning. As a last example of Senator Joe McCarthy's tactics of rapidly blaming innocent people, Robert Stevens was also sent into the hearing room. Robert Stevens was a businessman and Secretary of the Army from 1953 to 1955. He was accused and he poorly defended himself in the hearings, which ended up ruining his career in the army and as a successful businessman. Murrow, Welch, and Stevens were only a few of many who suffered from the false charges made by Joseph McCarthy.

The McCarthy hearings had an impact on our society today for many reasons. One is that his outrageous and false charges, or rather, the act of accusing these innocent people came to have a name; McCarthyism. 'McCarthyism' means to accuse a person or people of something, communist or not, using unsupported evidence or no proof at all. McCarthyism can also refer to simply blming people for acts they didn't do to gain popualrity or praise from others. This word is actually in some newer dictionaries and can be used by anyone in everyday speech.

Another impact these hearings had on everyday life today was the fact that it shows what any person in this country is capable of doing if they have our nation's support behind them. In other words, the people in this country decide most things that happen and what to follow or believe in. As a result, whomever the public chooses to follow can do virtually anything with the power and support that they have gained. This could have, and possibly would have, happened in the 1950's for Senator Joseph McCarthy. However, because of the hearings that allowed the alledged communists to share their side of the story, it didn't. Joe McCarthy continually tried to push ahead in the hearings, using his old tactics and eventually lost the support of the nation. These hearings were nationally televised and allowed the public to listen to and watch exactly what he was doing.

The last and most important impact that McCarthy's hearings and charges had on us today was actually almost positive. In the 50's, his accusations of the United States having the feared communists in our government actually brought us together as a nation during the Cold War. That is why when McCarthy began accusing people, the whole nation wanted to follow him, and the few that didn't could be easily picked out as 'communists'. It only turned downhill when people began to fear him and his behaviors as much as the communists. As a result, no one opposed him and so the hearings were the only way left to solve the problem that we created.

In the end, McCarthy brought on his own downfall. He continually tried to push ahead in the court cases with new and false information and more outrageous charges, which he couldn't prove. Once the American public learned his strategy he lost all support,especially during the Army-McCarthy hearings. And so, the hearings were a success for showing the true McCarthy and a failure because of the fact that people's careers were ruined in the process.

Information found at: Cohen, Daniel. Joseph McCarthy - the Misuse of Political Power. Brookfield, Connecticut: The Millbrook P, 1996 Bartlett, Charles. "McCarthy, Joseph Raymond". World Book Online Reference Center. 2007. [Highland Learning Center] 2/5/07