Senator Joseph R. McCarthy was born in Appleton, Wisconsin, in 1908 (Joseph McCarthy, 2026). He grew up in an impoverished family of Irish descent, where he was subject to mistreatment and hard labor by his family, which led him to gain his combative characteristics and respect for hard work (Allswang, 2021). 

After attending one year of high school, he dropped out and ran a successful grocery business as a way of escaping poverty (Allswang, 2021). Eventually, he went to Marquette University to study law and became an attorney in Wisconsin, where he was accused of dishonesty and and controversial tactics (Allswang, 2021). McCarthy eventually joined the U.S. marines in 1942 (Joseph McCarthy, 2026), where, despite his brief participation, he heavily used as leverage for his political campaign (Allswang, 2021).

In 1944, he ran as a Republican candidate for Senate, where he initially lost. He then reran in 1946 and won, where he was later on elected as a Senator in 1946 and 1952 (Joseph McCarthy, 2026).

In 1950, during a time of domestic tension and fear over communist influence in the United States, Senator McCarthy delivered his famous "Enemies Within" speech in Wheeling, Virginia. In a speech where he honored former president Abraham Lincoln's 141st birthday, McCarthy heavily centered his speech on the Cold War and communism (McCarthy, 1950, p. 1). He claimed that the Soviet Union was winning against the United States in the Cold War, and even stated that "When a great democracy is destroyed, it will not be because of enemies from without but rather because of enemies from within." (McCarthy, 1950, p. 2). After talking about the Soviet Union's feats and the United States' failures on foreign policy, Senator McCarthy revealed that he had a list of 57 members of Congress who were secretly identified with the Communist Party of the USA (CPUSA) (McCarthy, 1950, p. 3).  He also went on to talk about how Congress is a corrupt branch of government that will lead to the downfall of the United States (McCarthy, 1950, p. 4), which further catalyzed the public's fear of communism. Eventually, this speech founded a political movement known as "McCarthyism" (McCarthyism, n.d.).

These investigations and accusations intensified the effects of the Red Scare among the public. People in the United States started to accuse others in their circle of espionage and being affiliated with the communist party (The Cold War, 2013). A lot of the accusations were rooted in xenophobia and anti-radical ideology, and typically immigrants, activists, and progressive individuals were targeted in McCarthy’s investigations and the public's ostracization (The Cold War, 2013).

With the popularization of McCarthyism, Senator McCarthy continued to abuse his powers to the point where then-president Dwight D Eisenhower attempted to persuade him to give up on his investigations due to harming his reputation, which he refused (Allswang, 2021). Eventually, when Senator McCarthy started investigating the U.S. Army for a Soviet espionage ring in New Jersey, where he accused appointed officers of being communist sympathizers (McCarthyism, n.d.). This led to the Army v. McCarthy court cases, which portrayed McCarthy's bullying tactics and confidence in stating misinformation on live television (The Censure Case, 1954). This negative spotlight caused his credibility and popularity to rapidly decline, causing him to lose relevance and convince the Senate to have his power revoked (The Censure Case, 1954). Soon enough, he got censured by Congress in 1954 (The Censure Case, 1954).