How History Unfolds on Paper: Important Americana from the Eric C. Caren Collection, Part X

Locations vary, ca. 1946-54. Group of six items related to Senator Joseph McCarthy and the Red Scare, including, a 1954 Christmas card signed in print by McCarthy and his wife, with a mounted black and white image of them; The Red-Baiters Menace America, by Eugene Dennis, a twelve page political pamphlet, ca. 1946; a 59-page typescript titled "Statement of Senator William Benton Before the Subcommittee on Privileges and Election of the Senate Rules Committee, September 28, 1951, Relation to Senate Resolution 187."; three black and white press photographs of Joseph McCarthy. Condition varies, generally fine.

Beginning in 1950, Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy (1908-1957) became the most visible opponent of communism in America through his accusations of and hearings on widespread communist subversion in the U.S. Government. This period of "McCarthyism" was defined by the senator's often-unfounded accusations against his social and political opponents, resulting in one of the most notorious periods of American paranoia in the country's history, ruining thousands of lives and careers and in the estimation of many, including Reagan Administration Secretary of Education William Bennett, "cause[d] untold grief to the country he claimed to love... McCarthy besmirched the honorable cause of anti-communism. He discredited legitimate efforts to counter Soviet subversion of American institutions."

Senate Resolution 187 was introduced by Senator William Benton of Connecticut, called for McCarthy's ouster from the Senate, specifically to "make such further investigation with respect to the participation of Senator Joseph McCarthy in the 1950 Senatorial campaign of Senator John Marshall Butler and such investigation with respect to his other acts since his election to the Senate as may be appropriate to enable such committee to determine whether or not it should initiate action with a view toward the expulsion from the United States Senate of said Senator McCarthy." Ultimately the Senate Rules Committee investigated, but did not remove McCarthy.