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McCarthy has been widely criticized for his aggressive use of legislative investigatory powers to probe the Communist sympathies of various government officials.{{fact}} McCarthy made charges of Communist infiltration of the State Department, the administration of President Truman, Voice of America, and a United States Army research laboratory. The VOA hearings involved the content of broadcasts and transmitter difficulties, and found serious problems. Critics say that McCarthy did not prove deliberate sabotage. Critics also say that McCarthy only uncovered a few Communists in the United States Army Signal Corps Center at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. McCarthy also had a confrontation with Boston attorney Joseph Welch in televised hearings. Welch demanded that McCarthy name someone who had belonged to a Communist front organization, and then complained that it was indecent to do so.
McCarthy has been widely criticized for his aggressive use of legislative investigatory powers to probe the Communist sympathies of various government officials.{{fact}} McCarthy made charges of Communist infiltration of the State Department, the administration of President Truman, Voice of America, and a United States Army research laboratory. The VOA hearings involved the content of broadcasts and transmitter difficulties, and found serious problems. Critics say that McCarthy did not prove deliberate sabotage. Critics also say that McCarthy only uncovered a few Communists in the United States Army Signal Corps Center at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. McCarthy also had a confrontation with Boston attorney Joseph Welch in televised hearings. Welch demanded that McCarthy name someone who had belonged to a Communist front organization, and then complained that it was indecent to do so.
A teacher named Julius Hlavaty testified at the VOA hearings, and refused to answer whether he had been a Communist or had tried to recruit students to the Communist Party.<ref>http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,806622,00.html</ref> He lost his job as a distinguished public school teacher and had to take a job at Columbia University. Critics say that McCarthy should have ignored Communists making broadcasts on VOA because exposing them might have personally embarrassed them.
McCarthy questioned the security clearance for a Communist named Annie Lee Moss who worked in the US Army Signal Corps. Critics say that she was just a low-level clerk, and she may not have actually been a Communist spy.
Critics blame McCarthy for objecting to the state department stocking subversive novels that have nothing to do with its mission. They also blame McCarthy for exposing the Communist propagandist [[Dalton Trumbo]], even though McCarthy had nothing to do with it.
McCarthy never had access to secret Venona evidence about Communist spying, and did not successfully expose the extent of Communist influence in the US government.
McCarthy never had access to secret Venona evidence about Communist spying, and did not successfully expose the extent of Communist influence in the US government.