Trivia

Became known for his practice of making wild and unsupportable accusations of "subversive", "traitor" and "Communist" against his opponents or anyone he perceived as a possible opponent and being unwilling--or unable--to back up the charges. The practice became known, and is still known, as "McCarthyism".

Was censured by the Senate in 1954.

Claimed that the purpose of his infamous hearings was not to weed out alleged Communists in the government, but to find who was supposed to have hired them in the first place. He initially refused to reveal any of the names on his list of 205 people he claimed were Communists, but was eventually compelled to do so; as it turned out, there weren't 205 names on the list, and the majority of the names that were on it had nothing to do with Communists or Communism.

His real fame came in Wheeling, WV, when during a speech he waved a paper he claimed was a list of 57 Communists working in the US government; he also said he had the names of approximately 205 individuals (the 57 were part of this list) who were loyalty and security risks, being either Communists or Communist sympathizers (aka "fellow travelers"). Most of these names came from a list drawn up and titled the "Lee List". According to the Congressional Record and many books by historians and scholars produced over the years, none of the names were ever shown to have been Communists or have any connection to Communist activities.

Struggled with alcoholism throughout his life.

McCarthy's only marriage (at age 45) came as his infamous career was beginning to collapse. It was widely thought that his marriage was an arrangement to deflect increasingly strong rumours that he was an active homosexual who had sexual relationships with both his chief aides, Roy Cohn and G. David Schine, men who were nearly twenty years his junior. As McCarthy was an active persecutor of homosexuals, as well as smearing people who were actually not gay with this label (considered an insult in the reactionary days of the early 1950s), this appeared a gross hypocrisy at the very least. After Schine was drafted into the army (something McCarthy did his utmost to prevent), the attempts to win him preferential treatment drew scorn even from those had supported "McCarthyism", and when McCarthy made the fatal mistake of alleging that the army was full of Communists, he drew the wrath, not just of the military establishment, including several national heroes, but also the new President, Eisenhower. His marriage, following many newspaper innuendoes about his personal life, came quite suddenly. His wife was much younger than him.

Mentioned in Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start The Fire.".

He was played by Peter Boyle in a TV movie biopic, "Tail-Gunner Joe" (1977). He appears as a supporting character in another TV movie, "Citizen Cohn" (1992), where he is played by Joe Don Baker, and is briefly depicted in "The Private Files Of J. Edgar Hoover" (1977), played by George D. Wallace. He was the obvious inspiration for the character of Senator John Yerkes Iselin, played by James Gregory, in "The Manchurian Candidate" (1962).

Was elected to the Senate in 1946.

U.S. Senator from Wisconsin (1947-1957).

He and his wife adopted a baby girl. He once said about his daughter: "I don't know much about babies, but I'm crazy about this one.".

His father was Irish and his mother was German.

U. S. political figure (Republican Party).