Who was McCarthy and why were there hearings about him?

Question

Who was McCarthy and why were there hearings about him?

Answer 1

Charlie McCarthy was Edgar Bergen's ventriloquist dummy. He wore a top hat and a monacle. I think the proper phraseology is "why were people listening to him" not "why were there hearings about him". Because he was funny. Hope that helped. :-)

Answer 2

They weren't about him, they were led by him. They were Senate hearings seeking Communist infiltrators in the US Army.

They are often confused with the House Un-American Activities Committee which sought to stop Communist influence in the entertainment industry (e.g. Hollywood), but that had nothing to do with McCarthy, who was in the Senate, not the House.

Edit: Once again - the Communist witch hunt in Hollywood had NOTHING directly to do with McCarthy. McCarthy was a Senator and HUAC is a House committee. Senators do not chair committees in the House of Representatives or have anything to do with them.

Answer 3

A junior senator from Wisconsin who wanted to make a name for himself.  He conducted "witch hunts" looking for communists -- mostly in Hollywood.  He exposed a lot of people and destroyed even more.

Answer 4

he was a senator rite before the Great Depression times that basically was calling out alot of high profile ppl in the US government of being communists (traitors at the time)

Answer 5

He was a senator from Wisconsin in the early 1950s.  He led witch hunts for communists in the government and in Hollywood.  The Army-McCarthy hearings were held before television channels and were broadcast to the nation.  It was here that McCarthy shot himself in the foot.  What was never revealed to the public was that the hunt was really for homosexuals, under the guise of ferreting out commies.

Answer 6

McCarthy was a junior senator from - I forget - anyway, there wern't hearings about him, he had the hearings in which many people were dragged into congressional hearings after someone accused them of being a communist. It was a witch hunt. If someone didn't like you, they accused you of being and communist and you had to defend yourself at these hearings. McCarthy fanned the flames of fear and built his own power around it. It was disgusting. The mentality was much like it is today with terrorism, torture, rendition ect, but today is worse because our government is actually murdering people (i.e. 44 dead at Abu Graib from blunt instruments.)