the crucible

Joseph R. McCarthy’s rise to prominence in Wisconsin according to Michael O’Brien was due to his extraordinary personality, media coverage, powerful political forces, and fortuitous circumstances.

Within the United States following World War II, the Kremlin’s call for communist domination caused a great deal of panic reactions. Actions against alleged communists took place, using witch-hunt tactics. McCarthy spawned a massive anti-soviet campaign, which involved searching for people who believed in communist views or anyone who might know of such a person. Most of McCarthy’s “pro-Communist” investigations were designed to intimidate his critics, and with the help of his friends was able to organise the investigations on his enemies.
O’Brien states how McCarthy’s admirers found his “fighting” qualities most appealing. ‘McCarthy often alluded to his fight against communism and defined McCarthyism as the “fight for America”’. 1

From 1950 to 1952 Mc...