McCarthy as Senator

McCarthy supporters at the 25th Republican Convention in Chicago, July 9, 1952
Courtesy of Marquette University Archives

The fish signs criticized Secretary of State Dean Acheson, former State Department employee Alger Hiss, and State Department adviser Owen Lattimore for participating in a "Communist conspiracy." By July 1952, Hiss had served almost 16 months of a 44-month prison term for perjury. Hiss lied to the House Committee on Un-American Activities about his association with the Communist Party. The high ranking State Department employee had been a member of the Communist Party and had given State Department documents to the Soviet Union.


McCarthy and Representative John Byrnes on Eisenhower train in Green Bay, Wisconsin, 1952 Courtesy of the Post Crescent Byrnes introduced presidential candidate Dwight Eisenhower from the back of this train in Green Bay. The train continued on to Appleton, Neenah, Fond du Lac and Milwaukee. Eisenhower told Wisconsinites that he supported an anti-Communist campaign, but disapproved of McCarthy's methods.

McCarthy supporters at the 25th Republican Convention in Chicago, July 9, 1952 Courtesy of Marquette University Archives The fish signs criticized Secretary of State Dean Acheson, former State Department employee Alger Hiss, and State Department adviser Owen Lattimore for participating in a "Communist conspiracy." By July 1952, Hiss had served almost 16 months of a 44-month prison term for perjury. Hiss lied to the House Committee on Un-American Activities about his association with the Communist Party. The high ranking State Department employee had been a member of the Communist Party and had given State Department documents to the Soviet Union.
Democrats had controlled the Presidency since Franklin Roosevelt's win during the Great Depression in 1933. Increasingly, Republicans blamed a mostly Democratic government for the growth of international Communism. They enlisted McCarthy as one of their spokesmen in the 1952 presidential race. McCarthy accused some prominent members of the Democratic administration of contributing to a Communist conspiracy. The Senator often exaggerated charges against individuals. In one of his most dramatic allegations, he said former Secretary of Defense, General George Marshall, had participated in "a conspiracy so immense and an infamy so black as to dwarf any previous venture in the history of man." In 1952, McCarthy won re-election, Republicans won a majority in the House and Senate, and Republican Dwight Eisenhower became President.
		Some Democrats downplayed the possible threat of Communists and Communist sympathizers in government positions during the 1930s and 1940s, making them vulnerable to McCarthy's later attacks. But in 1947, Democratic President Harry Truman authorized investigations into the loyalty of federal workers. Republican Presidential candidate Dwight Eisenhower promised Americans that he would rid the government of Communists. Once in office, President Eisenhower became frustrated with McCarthy's continued attacks on a government headed by Republicans