The Birth of McCarthyism from American Experience Presents

Summary

Podcast Summary: "The Birth of McCarthyism" from American Experience Presents

Episode Overview

"The Birth of McCarthyism," the inaugural episode of the American Experience Presents series by GBH News, delves into the rise of one of America's most controversial political figures, Senator Joseph McCarthy. Released on May 21, 2025, this episode unpacks McCarthy's journey from his humble beginnings in 1970s Boston to his pivotal role in shaping American politics through fervent anti-Communist sentiments. Through a blend of historical analysis, personal anecdotes, and primary source quotes, the episode offers a comprehensive look at how McCarthyism emerged and its lasting impact on the American political landscape.

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1. Setting the Stage: America in Turmoil ([00:00] - [01:28])

The episode opens by contextualizing the current political climate, drawing parallels between past and present power struggles within the government. This introduction sets the tone for exploring how figures like McCarthy have historically influenced American governance.

Narrator ([00:00]): "Never in American history has it been so easy to gamble, legally at least... 'Scratch & Win' follows the unlikely rise of America’s most successful lottery."

Note: This portion includes introductory remarks and promotional content which are skipped in the summary per instructions.

2. Early Life of Joseph McCarthy ([01:28] - [04:24])

Joseph McCarthy, born on November 14, 1908, in Appleton, Wisconsin, hailed from a modest farming family. His early experiences, such as hunting skunks to protect family livestock, forged his image as a resilient and tough individual.

Joe McCarthy ([01:28]): "I often think of the days I spent back on the farm as a small boy... You just can't do it."

Historian David Oshinsky ([02:00]): "Joe McCarthy is a person who, for what he thought were the right reasons, did all the wrong things."

McCarthy's academic prowess was evident as he accelerated through high school and attended Marquette University, financing his education through high-stakes poker and coaching boxing teams. His tenacity led him to Marquette Law School, where he graduated in 1935 and began his career in private practice.

3. Transition into Politics ([04:24] - [06:52])

Originally a Democrat, McCarthy switched to the Republican Party post-World War II, aligning with the shifting political tides favoring veterans and the diminishing influence of the New Deal.

Historian Ellen Schrecker ([04:39]): "He's a fighter and he likes to present himself as a kind of macho, hairy chested tough guy..."

In 1946, at the age of 30, McCarthy won a seat as the 10th District Circuit Judge of Wisconsin by defeating the long-serving Republican incumbent, Judge Edgar Werner. His victory was attributed to his rigorous campaign strategy, including door-to-door canvassing and personalized voter outreach.

Historian David Oshinsky ([05:16]): "He was a guy who got into his automobile and went from farm to farm... Werner was beyond this. Werner really didn't think he needed to do it."

4. World War II and Military Service ([06:52] - [09:32])

Following the Pearl Harbor attack, McCarthy enlisted in the Marine Corps, not out of duty but as a strategic move to bolster his political credentials. Despite being exempt as a judge, he sought to leverage his military service for future political gains.

Joe McCarthy ([07:03]): "Yesterday, December 7, 1941... United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by Naval and Air forces of the Empire of Japan."

During his service, McCarthy exaggerated his military achievements, including falsely claiming to have been wounded in action—a fabrication that later became a hallmark of his embellished persona.

Historian Ellen Schrecker ([09:04]): "This is all completely made up."

5. Post-War Political Ascendancy ([09:32] - [16:34])

Returning from the war, McCarthy reentered politics, this time under the Republican banner. The 1946 midterm elections were pivotal, marking a shift as Republicans capitalized on anti-Communist sentiments and dissatisfaction with the Democratic Party.

Historian Beverly Gage ([10:32]): "The 46 election is a referendum on the New Deal..."

Amidst the early Cold War tensions, McCarthy positioned himself as a staunch anti-Communist, leveraging the growing fear of Soviet infiltration. His targeting of the State Department and claims of Communist spies resonated with a populace anxious about national security.

Historian David Oshinsky ([16:34]): "From 1946 to 1950, Americans grew more preoccupied with the threat from the Soviet Union."

6. The Rise of Anti-Communist Hysteria ([16:34] - [23:14])

McCarthy's alignment with the Republican Party's anti-Communist agenda coincided with the establishment of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), which intensified investigations into alleged Communist activities, particularly in Hollywood.

Historian David Oshinsky ([18:30]): "Americans love their movie stars. If you can get a movie star to testify, you will have absolute publicity bonanza."

The infamous Alger Hiss case epitomized the era's paranoia, where esteemed figures were scrutinized and, in many cases, unjustly convicted of Communist affiliations.

Historian Beverly Gage ([20:22]): "Alger Hiss was forced to spend time in jail... who else is lying."

7. McCarthy's Struggles and Strategic Pivot ([22:10] - [25:07])

Despite early political setbacks and poor relations with senior lawmakers, McCarthy found his breakthrough during the 1950 Lincoln Day dinner in Wheeling, West Virginia. Here, he boldly claimed to possess a list of 205 Communists within the State Department—a move that catapulted him into the national spotlight.

Joe McCarthy ([25:07]): "There are 205 Communists in the State Department."

This audacious claim, though later revealed to be unfounded, garnered immense media attention and public support, positioning McCarthy as a formidable force in American politics.

Historian David Oshinsky ([25:41]): "He has really gone and unscrupulously looked for information. But it is information that we know today to be completely bogus."

8. Conclusion and Tease for Next Episode ([27:16] - [28:56])

The episode concludes by highlighting the immediate fallout from McCarthy's Wheeling speech, setting the stage for his subsequent rise and the intensification of McCarthyism. The narrative promises a deeper exploration of McCarthy's Senate career and the broader implications of his anti-Communist crusade in the next installment.

Narrator ([27:31]): "That's on our next episode, Chasing the Lie on American Experience Presents Joseph McCarthy."

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Key Takeaways

• Joseph McCarthy's Persona: McCarthy crafted an image of a self-made, tough individual, leveraging his military service and humble beginnings to gain public trust.

• Political Strategy: His switch to the Republican Party and aggressive anti-Communist stance were calculated moves to align with the prevailing political sentiments of post-war America.

• Impact of Anti-Communism: McCarthy's actions contributed significantly to the Red Scare, leading to widespread fear, unfounded accusations, and a lasting scar on American political discourse.

Notable Quotes

• McCarthy on Anti-Communism ([07:03]): "Yesterday, December 7, 1941... United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by Naval and Air forces of the Empire of Japan."

• Historian David Oshinsky on McCarthy's Tactics ([16:45]): "Once he ran with it, the public really began to sort of link onto the fact that oh my God, this guy's done his research."

• McCarthy's Wheeling Speech ([25:07]): "There are 205 Communists in the State Department."

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Conclusion

"The Birth of McCarthyism" serves as a compelling exploration of Senator Joseph McCarthy's rise to power, set against the backdrop of post-World War II America. By intertwining personal narratives with historical analysis, the episode offers listeners a nuanced understanding of how fear and political ambition can intertwine to shape national discourse. As the series progresses, it promises to further illuminate the complexities of McCarthyism and its enduring legacy in contemporary politics.

Transcript

[Narrator]

Support for Scratch and Win comes from Progressive Insurance. Do you ever find yourself playing the budgeting game? Well, with the name your price tool from Progressive, you can find options that fit your budget and potentially lower your bills. Try [e-mail] Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates Price and coverage match limited by state law not available in all states. Hey folks, we're in a moment right now where when, regardless of your politics, things can feel unprecedented. The way power is being wielded, the way different parts of government are facing off with each other. There is a lot to make sense of. But as always, there are echoes in all this, of the past and the not so distant past. So today I want to share with you the first part in a series from our colleagues at American Experience. They launched a new podcast this year called American Experience Presents. And their first series is about a polarizing American figure who gathered and wielded power in ways that at that time felt unprecedented. Here's American experience presents. Joseph McCarthy. There are moments in American history when the country is afraid, when there is.

[Historian]

A threat that is hard to define.

[Narrator]

And it's in those periods that demagogues arise.

[Joe McCarthy]

I often think of the days I spent back on the farm as a small boy. I had three brothers. My mother used to raise chickens to help pay the grocery bills and get her Christmas money. And one of the jobs I had with my three brothers was to down into these swamps and dig out the skunks that used to come up and kill her baby chicken. You learn early in life that you don't go skunk hunting with striped trousers, a silk handkerchief and a top hat. You just can't do it.

[Historian David Oshinsky]

Joe McCarthy is a person who, for what he thought were the right reasons, did all the wrong things.

[Joe McCarthy]

Did you ever discuss any confidential material with a member of the Communist Party? Answer that, yes or no.

[Historian David Oshinsky]

And really inflicted a great deal of pain and anguish on individuals, but on the society as a whole.

[Joe McCarthy]

My dear sir, I have never consulted with a Communist party in any manner regarding the writing of the four books I have written. This is a book burning. You lack only the tinder to set fire to the books, as Hitler did 20 years ago.

[Historian David Oshinsky]

Whenever politicians resort to demagoguery, they really demean democracy, and McCarthy has become the symbol of that.

[James Edwards]

This is American experience presents Joseph McCarthy the story of the Republican senator from Wisconsin whose brief but incendiary career transformed American politics. I'm James Edwards. Joseph McCarthy was born on November 14, 1908, outside Appleton, Wisconsin.

[Historian Ellen Schrecker]

So McCarthy came from a real working class farm family he shoveled manure, shall we say he killed animals who were attacking his chickens. He talks at one point about killing skunks and says it was a horrible job that somebody had to do. He's got this sort of visceral image of this kind of tough guy who's not afraid to get into the muck.

[Dolly McCarthy Plesser]

His farm was about a mile and a half from my father's farm where we lived. And what was raised on the farm was mostly milk cows.

[James Edwards]

McCarthy's cousin, Dolly McCarthy Plesser.

[Dolly McCarthy Plesser]

He had a very good mind, and when he got his mind set on something, he went through it and he worked hard at what he was doing. And he graduated from high school in one year. And after that, I guess there was no stopping him.

[James Edwards]

After high school, McCarthy went to Marquette University in Wisconsin. His family didn't have much money, so he took odd jobs to pay his tuition, including playing high stakes poker and coaching the boxing team. Historian Ellen Schrecker.

[Historian Ellen Schrecker]

He's a fighter and he likes to present himself as a kind of macho, hairy chested tough guy who can drink and gamble, and it plays well with the electorate. But it's also who McCarthy is. He is this tough guy who pulled himself up completely on his own.

[James Edwards]

After college, McCarthy continued to law school. He graduated in 1935 and began working in a private practice. A few years later, he decided to run for 10th District Circuit Judge of Wisconsin.

[Historian David Oshinsky]

Young Joe McCarthy was actually a Democrat.

[James Edwards]

This is historian David Oshinsky, author of A Conspiracy so Immense, the world of Joe McCarthy.

[Historian David Oshinsky]

He was going to run against a Republican incumbent, someone who seems unbeatable.

[James Edwards]

That man was Judge Edgar Werner.

[Historian David Oshinsky]

This is a man who had been in this office for a very, very long time and was seen as a kind of institution. I think McCarthy viewed him as vulnerable. He was old. He basically took his victories for granted. And what McCarthy, I think, almost intuitively realized is that if I can really go after this guy, that I have a real chance of winning.

[James Edwards]

McCarthy sets out on the campaign trail.

[Historian Ellen Schrecker]

He goes around telling people falsely that the judge is too old. He misstates the guy's age and says, isn't it time we have some young blood? And he also has enormous energy, goes around the entire area that this judicial district is and knocks on doors and sends postcards to people that he's talked to on his knocking of doors so that his name is getting known.

[Historian David Oshinsky]

He was a guy who got into his automobile and went from farm to farm to farm, introducing himself and that kind of what we might call retail politics. Particularly in a rural area is very, very important. Werner was beyond this. Werner really didn't think he needed to do it.

[James Edwards]

McCarthy succeeded, defeating Edgar Werner and becoming circuit judge at the age of 30.

[Historian Ellen Schrecker]

And along comes World War II.

[Joe McCarthy]

Yesterday, December 7, 1941, a date which will live in infamy, United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by Naval and Air forces of the Empire of Japan.

[James Edwards]

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, McCarthy enlisted.

[Historian David Oshinsky]

There was no reason he had to go into the army during World War II. Judges were exempt. Why would Joe McCarthy do this? And the reason is quite simple. McCarthy saw the U.S. military as a way to the political future. And McCarthy intuitively realized that not only did he have to join these forces, but he had to make a success out of those years.

[Joe McCarthy]

I was what they referred to as a Marine combat intelligence officer. That meant he did about everything, including procuring food from the Navy.

[James Edwards]

But he also did something else.

[Historian David Oshinsky]

Rather than just being an intelligence officer, which should have been enough. What McCarthy did was turn himself into a tail gunner. By that, I mean that he would ask fighter pilots and bomber pilots to take him up into the back of the aircraft where the machine gun was, and Joe would fire bullets endlessly. And he actually did set a record of firing, I think, the most machine gun bullets in one day in the history of the Pacific theater. The problem was that none of them was fired in anger.

[Joe McCarthy]

Yes, I got a very interesting mahogany plaque when I left. It was inscribed, to Father Mack, who destroyed more coconut trees and less Japs than any man in the Pacific.

[James Edwards]

That's wonderful.

[Joe McCarthy]

How about this? Father Mack? Was that the nickname the boys tag team? Well, I was sort of the old man of the squad when I was 33 years old. Most of the boys were 21, 22.

[Historian Ellen Schrecker]

He claims to have been wounded in the war. What happened to him was he fell off a ladder during a celebration that commemorates the crossing of the Equator. Once he gets into political life, he talks about his leg being full of shrapnel. He walks with a limp sometimes. This is all completely made up.

[Narrator]

When.

[James Edwards]

He comes back from the war. McCarthy enters politics.

[Historian David Oshinsky]

Joe McCarthy becomes a Republican after World War II, and he becomes a Republican for two reasons. The New Deal is really beginning to fade. And it's clear that the Republican Party seems to be not only the party of the future, but the party of the veterans. Those who are coming back in what was known as the class of 46, including Richard Nixon, are all running on the Republican ticket. And it's a smart thing to do.

[James Edwards]

The 1946 midterm election marked the first time Americans returned to the polling booth after the end of World War II.

[Historian]

The Democrats have really dominated American politics for most of the 1930s and at that point, most of the 1940s. And the stakes are really pretty high about who's going to control the shape of this post war order. Is it going to be the Democratic Party that does this really uniformly?

[James Edwards]

Once again, historian Beverly Gage.

[Historian]

In some ways, the 46 election is a referendum on the New Deal, which is to say all of the social welfare programs that have been coming out of the left and coming out of the kind of liberal wing for many years. But the Republicans framed this really as being about communism.

[James Edwards]

Throughout the 30s and 40s, communism had become a pressing threat at home as well as abroad.

[Historian]

The Great Depression we tend to think of as sort of an economic crisis, but it was also an existential crisis in the sense that it seemed to indicate influence fact that capitalism was done for and something else was going to have to rise from its ashes. And the question became, what would that be? And for many Americans, as well as many people around the world, it seemed like the answer to that question really was going to be Communism. Communism had a solution to the economic crisis. It had a solution to the kinds of economic injustices and inequality that so many people had experienced. And the Communist Party was also pretty far out front on questions about race and civil rights. And so in the 1930s, it really attracts a very wide spectrum of people who are drawn to it for its ideas, for its commitments on the ground to kind of domestic social justice movement. On the other hand, as an institution, the Communist Party is not deeply wedded to the Soviet Union. It's taking a lot of money from the Soviet Union throughout the 20s and 30s, and in fact, many Communists really deeply believe that their primary commitment is actually to the Soviet government and to Stalin himself.

[James Edwards]

For many others, the Soviet Union and the Communist agenda pose an alarming threat to democracy.

[Historian]

The Republicans are saying the Democrats are going to be stopped, soft on Communism. They're going to be soft on the Soviet Union. We're the people that you can trust actually to make this fight in the world.

[James Edwards]

Alongside the perceived and rising communist threat, McCarthy's 1946 Senate campaign began. Once again, McCarthy decided to take on a powerful incumbent. This time, his opponent was the popular, progressive Republican Senator Robert La Follette Jr. Whose father ran for president in the 1920s. Here again is historian David Oshinsky.

[Historian David Oshinsky]

If you're going to run for political office, the one person you don't want to run against is young Bob La Follette. I mean, he's been there for a long time. He's very, very popular. The name is all over Wisconsin. But McCarthy realizes that I am a young Marine with a war record running against someone who has been spending too many days in Washington, who is kind of growing old before our eyes. And I am willing to basically get in the mud and do what I have to do to bring those issues to the public.

[Historian Ellen Schrecker]

Well, it's one thing about La Follette. He wasn't making a big hard fight for it. He stayed in Washington. He only came out there about one time at that any of us could ever remember.

[James Edwards]

This is Cody Splitt, who worked on McCarthy's 1946 campaign.

[Historian Ellen Schrecker]

He never stopped campaigning. And he drove everywhere and picked up people that were active in the politics all over the state and took them.

[Dolly McCarthy Plesser]

With him to the next place the way he advertised. We were selling penny postcards with his picture on one side and it played to write a little note on the other side. And he would get the high school girls, which I was one of, and we would just take a telephone book and rip a page out. And then we wrote a card just telling them that Joe would appreciate his vote.

[James Edwards]

Joe's cousin, Dolly McCarthy Plesser, ever so.

[Dolly McCarthy Plesser]

Many people said that that was why they voted for him, was the thoughtfulness that he came to see him or to write the note to him. He made you feel as though you were somebody important.

[James Edwards]

McCarthy's campaign promise was to clean up Washington.

[Joe McCarthy]

The 12 odd million men who were removed from civilian life during the war are returning to find that what was a democracy has degenerated into a stifling, smothering bureaucracy. There's only one way of destroying this government by bureaucracy, and that is to clean out that administration from the very top to the very bottom so that you can plunge a knife into the heart of this tentacle monster.

[James Edwards]

McCarthy's campaign proved successful. He beat La Follette in the primary and it was clear that he would beat his Democratic challenger in the general election as well.

[Historian Ellen Schrecker]

Everybody was asking all over America how Joe McCarthy could have beaten the great Robert La Follette Jr. So it was a very brave and crazy, courageous thing to do, and Joe did it.

[Historian David Oshinsky]

What McCarthy's victory sort of shows is that everyone is fair game. I mean, if you can knock off a La Follette, you really have a kind of winning formula.

[Joe McCarthy]

The whole nation is voting and the Truman administration and the Democratic Party lose this battle of ballots. The victorious Republicans win control of both branches of Congress, Senate and House.

[James Edwards]

From 1946 to 1950, Americans grew more preoccupied with the threat from the Soviet Union. The Republican Party and McCarthy saw an opportunity.

[Historian]

This is when the Cold War has really settled in. Americans begin to look at the Soviet Union, its moves into Eastern Europe. And Americans immediately feel quite concerned that all of this bloodshed, all of this cost, all of this worry of the the last four to six years is now going to be obliterated by even potentially a worse form of totalitarianism taking over the world.

[Historian David Oshinsky]

There was a belief that, you know, we've come out of the war victorious. We've beaten the Germans, we've beaten the Japanese, and we turn around and now we have the Soviet Union. A country that was an ally of convenience during the war has now turned into an adversary. And how did we allow this to happen? How have we allowed this country to become so expansive and so powerful?

[James Edwards]

To many, the answer lay inside the American government.

[Narrator]

The fear of Soviet penetration of the.

[Historian]

United States government is based on fact.

[James Edwards]

Historian Timothy Naftali.

[Historian]

The Soviets had informants in the White House, in the Treasury Department, in the.

[Narrator]

State Department, in the Office of Strategic Services.

[James Edwards]

A Decade earlier, in 1938, the House of Representatives formed the House UN American Activities Committee, known by its acronym, HUAC, to investigate allegations of disloyal or subversive activities within the United States. HUAC began as a special investigating committee and became a permanent committee in 1945. Two years later, HUAC turned its sights on Hollywood.

[Historian David Oshinsky]

When HUAC goes to Hollywood, it finds extraordinary, fertile territory. And by that I mean that Americans love their movie stars. If you can get a movie star to testify, you will have absolute publicity bonanza. And that is exactly what happens.

[Joe McCarthy]

Are you a member of the Communist Party or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party? It's unfortunate and tragic that I have to teach this committee the basic principles of Americanism. That's not the question. The question is, have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?

[Historian David Oshinsky]

On the one hand, there were many Communist screenwriters in Hollywood. There was no doubt about it, it was true. On the other hand, these were people who had every right to be members of the Communist Party. There was nothing that they were doing in Hollywood that was in the slightest way subversive. It was the worst imaginable kind of hearing. Uac, really, other than citing certain people for contempt, for mouthing off in front of them, UAC found nothing. And the screenwriters, they had First Amendment freedoms that were simply stomped upon.

[James Edwards]

Despite the lack of findings, HUAC succeeded in getting scriptwriters banned from employment in Hollywood. As time went on, hearings turned into trials.

[Historian]

By 1948 of 1949, you're beginning to see a series of courtroom prosecutions around espionage char. So the most famous of these is the Alger Hiss case, which begins in the late forties.

[James Edwards]

Historian Beverly Gage.

[Historian]

Alger Hiss was one of the kind of shining boys of the New Deal. He had been Ivy League educated. He was this sort of very elegant, well spoken, thoughtful man who had risen through the State Department, who had helped to create the United nations, who was a deep insider. And then in 1948, 1948, comes the accusation that he is actually a secret Communist and a Soviet spy.

[Joe McCarthy]

Who's the liar? Might well be the title of the drama which unfolds before a packed caucus room where the House All American Affairs Committee members swear in Alger Hiss. Former State Department executive. Mr. Hiss is accused of being a former Communist and before news cameras, faces his accuser. I welcome the opportunity to answer to the best of my ability. Any inquiries the members of this committee may wish to ask. I am not and never have been a member of the Communist Party.

[James Edwards]

Alger Hiss had actually spied for the Soviets in the 1930s, but the statute of limitations had lapsed, so the committee defaulted to a charge of perjury and pronounced him guilty.

[Historian]

Alger Hiss was forced to spend time in jail, and that seems like a kind of great anti Communist victory, that in fact this man who had been a pillar of the establishment, is caught in a kind of web of lies. And it also raises the question about who else is lying.

[James Edwards]

Meanwhile, McCarthy's Senate career was off to a rocky start. Here again is historian David Oshinsky.

[Historian David Oshinsky]

Joe McCarthy's political career from 1946 until 1950 is one of repeated failure. There is a sense that when you get to Washington as a junior senator and a backbencher, that you show deference to your elders. Seniority is probably the most important thing in the Senate at this point. And Joe McCarthy doesn't care about these things. Joe McCarthy basically is there to make a name for himself. He is not there to play by their rules. And what happens very early on is that he tends to offend senior members of both parties. And he's punished. He's given the worst imaginable committee assignments. He is not invited into the inner sanctums, whether it's social or political, of either party. He's seen as abrasive, and no one expects him to win.

[James Edwards]

Re election scorned and deemed irrelevant. McCarthy badly needed an angle. Communism provided the answer. His moment came during the Republicans annual Lincoln Day celebration.

[Historian Ellen Schrecker]

Every Lincoln's birthday the Republican Party holds its special Lincoln Day dinners addressed by a major politician if they can get one. And the senators and representatives in the party spread out over the country and give these dinner presentations.

[Historian David Oshinsky]

As Republicans are celebrating in 1950, their big guns are being sent to Chicago and New York and Los Angeles and no offense to Wheeling, West Virginia. The person who gets sent there to talk is the person at the bottom of the totem pole.

[James Edwards]

Wheeling is where the Republican party sent Joseph McCarthy.

[Historian David Oshinsky]

What is most extraordinary here is that the most important speech in some ways of that generation is given in a place where there is no media attention and a sense by the people who sent him there that nobody really cares what he has to say or is going to listen very hard.

[James Edwards]

The expectation was that McCarthy was going to give a standard boilerplate speech that you give to a Republican constituency in Wheeling, West Virginia. They really weren't sending him there to make headlines. Journalist Jelani Cobb no one was expecting much from McCarthy, but the speech he gave was impossible to ignore.

[Historian David Oshinsky]

What McCarthy is really saying is we are the most powerful country in the world. We, we are the richest country in the world. We're the most influential country in the world and yet we're losing everywhere. We're losing in Asia, we're losing in Europe, we're losing technologically now to the Soviets. How do we explain this? And what McCarthy does in wheeling is to explain it by waving a list saying we are being sold out by traders.

[James Edwards]

He comes out and says that there are 205 Communists in the State Department. That's electrifying.

[Historian David Oshinsky]

The totality of that speech is enormous. You know, we're not talking about generalities of what's going on in the State Department. We are talking about specific people. I have in my hand the names of these people. I know who they are.

[James Edwards]

Immediately the news media picks this up. People are all over it. And that is the point at which this Republican backbencher begins to recognize that the communist issue can be the avenue into the spotlight for, for his career.

[Historian David Oshinsky]

Once he ran with it, the public really began to sort of link onto the fact that oh my God, this guy's done his research. This guy has names, this guy has numbers. This guy is doing something that no politician we know of has done before. He has really gone and unscrupulously looked for information. But it is information that we know today to be completely bogus. McCarthy had no list in his hand. He had nothing in his hand and it was a fraud.

[James Edwards]

Next time Senate Democrats open an investigation and McCarthy starts naming names.

[Joe McCarthy]

I just heard the shocking news that.

[Historian]

Senator McCarthy had the audacity to call the a Communist today on the floor of Congress. I want to say here and now that Senator McCarthy is a liar.

[James Edwards]

That's on our next episode, Chasing the Lie on American experience presents Joseph McCarthy. This series is produced by Devin Maverick Robbins. Mae Lei is the associate producer with sound design by Jack Pombrian. This episode was written by Galen Beebe and edited by John Bredar and Devin Mavic. Robbins, the Executive producer is Cameo George. American experience presents Joseph McCarthy is a production of GBH and distributed by PRX. I'm James Edwards.

[Narrator]

If you want to hear the rest of McCarthy's story, search for American Experience Presents wherever you listen to podcasts GBH Hey, I want to make sure that you know this series you're listening to right now is part of an ongoing feed telling stories from the past to help us understand our present. Our first season is all about infrastructure. The second season is about gambling, and we've got more seasons planned. So if you want to stay on top of what the team and I are doing, go ahead and follow or subscribe to this podcast wherever you listen. We've got some really exciting stories coming up and I hope you'll stay with us. Thanks.

[Historian Ellen Schrecker]

From PRX.