The Army-McCarthy hearings in 1954 marked the end of Senator Joseph McCarthy’s career. McCarthy accused US government employees of being communists during the Cold War, but when he turned his attention to the military, Army officials launched their own investigation. The televised hearings turned public sentiment against McCarthy, and he was eventually censured by his colleagues in the Senate. McCarthy’s legacy includes the term “McCarthyism,” used to describe the practice of defaming political opponents without evidence.
The Army-McCarthy hearings served as the final chapter in United States Senator Joseph McCarthy’s infamous public career. During the period of intense US-Soviet rivalry known as the Cold War, McCarthy gained fame by accusing US government employees of being communists or communist sympathizers. When he turned his attention to the United States military, Army officials launched their own investigation into McCarthy. The ensuing Senate hearings, called the Army-McCarthy hearings, were televised live in 1954, strongly turning American public sentiment against McCarthy.
McCarthy was a Republican Senator from Wisconsin, first elected in 1946. At the time, just after World War II, the Communist government of the Soviet Union was expanding its influence into neighboring countries. This was viewed with alarm in the United States, and McCarthy became famous in 1950 with claims that Communist agents had infiltrated the US State Department. He became chairman of a Senate investigative committee in 1953, using his newfound power to accuse civil servants and private citizens of Communist ties. While these allegations were often based on dubious evidence, many people found their lives and careers ruined as a result of McCarthy’s actions.
In 1954, the Army-McCarthy hearings resulted from McCarthy’s alleged communist influence in the US military. Army officials retaliated by accusing McCarthy and his top aide, attorney Roy Cohn, of abusing their power. They alleged that McCarthy and Cohn had sought preferential treatment for another aide, G. David Schine, after Schine was drafted into the Army. While McCarthy was being investigated by his own Senate committee, he temporarily removed himself from his presidency. The Army-McCarthy hearings were broadcast live during April, May and June 1954, the first Senate hearings ever to be televised.
The Army hired Boston attorney Joseph Welch as its defense counsel for the Army-McCarthy hearings. Welch exposed McCarthy’s use of false evidence to support his case, including a doctored photograph and a forged letter purportedly from FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. McCarthy attempted to blacken Welch by accusing his staff of communist ties. Welch famously replied, “Have you no sense of decency?” As a result of these widely publicized events, McCarthy fell out of favor with the American public and was censured by his colleagues in the Senate.
McCarthy was deposed in 1955, dying in disgrace two years later. His legacy includes the phrase McCarthyism, used ever since to describe the practice of defaming political opponents without evidence. The anti-communist hysteria he exemplified has since come to be regarded as one of the darkest periods in the history of US government. McCarthy and his rants have been depicted many times in popular media, including the films Citizen Cohn, Point of Order and Good Night and Good Luck. A fictionalized version of Cohn appears in Tony Kushner’s Pulitzer-winning play Angels in America, along with the quote “Have you no sense of decency?”
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