What was Joseph McCarthy's plan for his end game?

In a dramatic confrontation, Joseph Welch, special counsel for the U.S. Army, lashes out at Senator Joseph McCarthy during hearings on whether communism has infiltrated the U.S. armed forces. Welch's verbal assault marked the end of McCarthy's power during the anticommunist hysteria of the Red Scare in America. read more

I think you give “Tail Gunner Joe” too much credit to assume he actually had an end-game. McCarthy was a “flailer” by nature. Unable to get any attention as a junior senator, he battened on to the issue of hidden communists in government, not out of conviction or patriotism, but just to put some zing in a floundering political career. read more

McCarthy had taken his anti-communist witch hunt to the army in 1953, but until the 1954 hearings, the general American public hadn’t seen him in action. Opposition to McCarthy and his tactics had been growing, but the hearings proved to be the tipping point. read more

In a dramatic confrontation, Joseph Welch, special counsel for the U.S. Army, lashes out at Senator Joseph McCarthy during hearings on whether communism has infiltrated the U.S. armed forces. Welch’s verbal assault marked the end of McCarthy’s power during the anticommunist hysteria of the Red Scare in America. read more