Senator Joseph McCarthy
November 14, 1908- May 2, 1957
Joseph McCarthy was born and raised in Wisconsin to devoted and protective Catholics. At the age of fourteen, after graduating from grade school, he took up chicken farming, but only briefly. He then moved to a nearby town and managed a grocery store. He enrolled in high school at age twenty and graduated after only one year. He then spent two years as an engineering student at Marquette University and continued to law school were he was president of his class. He practiced as a lawyer in Wisconsin for several years where he began to experiment with politics. He became known as an American hero and one of the most famous Americans against Communism.
How he influenced politics
Many politicians were afraid to speak out against McCarthy because it was possible that he would accuse them of communism and thus, ruin their career. Laws were passed purely because people feared that if they voted against McCarthy's ideas, their careers as politician would be over.
How does he relate to the Salem Witch Trials?
Joseph McCarthy accused many government officials of being communists with only sub-par evidence. This is very similar to how the young girls involved in the Salem Witch Trials were falsely accused of Witchcraft. This practice of falsely accusing government employees of communism became known as McCarthyism.