Editing Authoritarian Capitalism (section)

====[[File:McCarthy.png]] Joseph McCarthy====
<blockquote>''See Also: [[File:Necon.png]] [[Neoconservatism]]</blockquote>
[[File:McCarthy.png]] '''Joseph McCarthy''' was an American politician and attorney who served as a Republican Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957. The term "McCarthyism" was coined in the 1950s in reference to McCarthy's widespread [[File:Anticommunism.png]] anti-communist paranoia, fearmongering, and allegations that numerous communists and Soviet spies, and sympathizers had infiltrated the United States federal government, universities, and elsewhere. Joseph McCarthy rose to national fame in February 1950, when he asserted in a speech that he had a list of "members of [[File:CPUSA.png]] the Communist Party and members of a spy ring" who were employed in the State Department.
 
From the year 1950 onwards McCarthy frequently exploited Cold War tensions and the fear of communism and even began to investigate [[File:Gay.png]] homosexuals working in the foreign policy bureaucracy, on the ground that they were prime candidates for blackmail by the Soviets (See: Lavender Scare). Said baseless accusations against homosexual government workers received wide publicity and gained him a powerful national following. 

McCarthy's methods also brought on the disapproval and opposition of many. With the highly publicized Army–McCarthy hearings of 1954, and following the suicide of Wyoming Senator Lester C. Hunt that same year, McCarthy's support and popularity faded. Ultimately, the smear tactics and threats that he used led him to be censured by the U.S. Senate.