Most people believed domestic Communism threatened American institutions and supported the firing of Communist employees. Many identified anti-Communism with McCarthy and believed that those who opposed him embraced Communism. Some accepted the Senator's bullying, name calling, and use of guilt by association as a "necessary evil" to root out Communists. They felt that Communism threatened national security and that threat outweighed individual rights.

Some Americans questioned McCarthy's methods in fighting Communism. He made enemies in the press and among Wisconsin voters who believed he infringed on free speech. Newspaper editor Leroy Gore started a "Joe Must Go" campaign in the spring of 1954. 300,000 Wisconsinites signed a petition to recall McCarthy, but the campaign fell short of the 403,804 required.

• Wisconsin's institutions remained largely unaffected by McCarthyism. Its governments held no investigations and passed no anti-subversive legislation in the 1950s.
  
  
• Some farmers, union members, and small businesspeople became dissatisfied with McCarthy's lack of representation. McCarthy focused on anti-Communism almost exclusively after 1950.

Anti- and Pro-McCarthy political paraphernalia, 1952-1954
OCHS#s 2000.38.1, 2000.55.1, 2000.56.1, 2000.56.2 and Marquette University Archives loan.