Who was Joseph McCarthy? Joseph R. McCarthy was born in 1908 on a family farm in Wisconsin. He went to a country school and decided he was done with his education at the young age of 14. After that, he explained to his family that he was finished with his studies and wanted to become a farmer like his father. Joe began a profitable business of raising chickens after borrowing a plot of land from his father. …showed first 75 words of 806 total…

…showed last 75 words of 806 total…attack, charging that McCarthy was seeking treatment for a consultant, David Schine, who in 1953 had been drafted into the army. Eventually, McCarthy's own subcommittee decided to hold hearings on the matter (The Army-McCarthy hearings). The televised hearings fully exposed McCarthy as irresponsible and dishonest. In December, 1954 the senate voted to censure him. McCarthy never regretted it, but quickly became an insignificant alcoholic. He died of a liver ailment in Bethesda, Maryland, on May 2, 1957 at age 47.