Joseph Raymond "
Joe"
McCarthy (November 14, 1908 – May 2, 1957) was an American politician who served as a
Republican U.S. Senator from the state of
Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957. Beginning in 1950, McCarthy became the most visible public face of a period in which
Cold War tensions fueled fears of widespread
Communist subversion. He was noted for making claims that there were large numbers of Communists and
Soviet spies and sympathizers inside the United States federal government and elsewhere. Ultimately, his tactics and inability to substantiate his claims led him to be
censured by the United States Senate.