The Lesson of Joseph McCarthy

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses that Senator Joseph McCarthy lied about people being communists to get himself reelected. The paper compares McCarthy to the Salem Witch Hunts and gives examples from Arthur Miller's "The Crucible." The author's core argument is that when striving for personal gain, one begins to realize the unfortunate fact that honest methods can be lot harder than fraudulent ones; and thus, people who will try and deceive others will always exist.

From the Paper:

"Senator Joseph McCarthy, like many politicians, was willing to lie and deceive in order to receive re-election. However, he went too far: he accused many high-ranking government officials of condoning Communism in order, as many believe, to give him an issue for his re-election campaign in 1952. (Jesse Friedman) "McCarthy drove many individuals from their jobs and destroyed the reputations of an uncounted number of people." Reminiscent of the fear of witches during seventeenth century, the spread of communism was a blinding trepidation in America during the 1950s. McCarthy saw this weakness, and he attacked it relentlessly. Throughout his campaign, though, he was unable to produce a shred of evidence against anyone he had defamed."

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