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[[Image:160px-Joseph_McCarthy.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Senator Joseph Raymond McCarthy]]

'''Joseph Raymond McCarthy''' ([[November 14]], [[1908]] – [[May 2]], [[1957]]) was a [[Republican]] [[United States Senate|U.S. Senator]] from the state of [[Wisconsin]] between 1947 and 1957. Beginning in 1950, McCarthy became the most visible public figure to stand up to [[Communist]] infiltration of the [[United States]] goverment. He was noted for claiming that there were large numbers of [[Communist Party|Communists]] and [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] spies and sympathizers inside the federal government. Ultimately, his detractors, including the [[Communist Party]], were able to organize an effective effort to having him censured by the [[United States Senate]]. The term "[[McCarthyism]]," coined in 1950 in reference to McCarthy's attempts to expose Communists, was soon applied to similar dogmatic pursuits.

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After the collapse of the Soviet Union, documents from the [[KGB]] and [[Comintern]] Archives in [[Moscow]] became available to researchers and the public for the first time, corroborating the facts of McCarthy's undelying premise. In the United States, the [[Moynihan Secrecy Commission]] was empowered by statute to investigate and secure documents from the [[National Security Agency]] and the [[FBI]] which had remained classified for more than 40 years. The Secrecy Commission's Final Report found that,

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{{Cquote|for every accusation there was a denial. ... For all who could agree there were Communists in government, there were as many who saw the Government as contriving fantastic accusations against innocent persons. A balanced history of this period is now beginning to appear; the [[VENONA]] messages will surely supply a great cache of facts to bring the matter to some closure....

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The first fact is that a significant Communist conspiracy was in place in Washington, New York, and Los Angeles, but in the main those involved systematically denied their involvement. <ref>Moynihan Commission on Government Secrecy, Appendix [http://www.gpo.gov/congress/commissions/secrecy/pdf/12hist1.pdf ''The Experience of the Bomb,''] pg. A-33.</ref>}}

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Hayden Peake, curator of the [[Central Intelligence Agency]]’s Historical Intelligence Collection has stated, "No modern government was more thoroughly penetrated." <ref>Peale, Hayden B., [http://www.nwc.navy.mil/press/review/2000/summer/re2-su0.htm ''The Venona Progeny''], Naval War College Review, Summer 2000, Vol. LIII, No. 3.</ref>

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==Early life==

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