10 Big Fat Lies and the Liars Who Told Them

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10. Senator Joseph McCarthy on communism

Joseph McCarthy (Photo: Library of Congress)

Joseph McCarthy (Photo: Library of Congress)

“I have here in my hand a list of 205 [State Department employees] that were known to the secretary of state as being members of the Communist Party and who nevertheless are still working and shaping the policy of the State Department.”

Senator Joseph McCarthy, February 9, 1950

This statement was Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy’s first declaration setting off the phenomenon that would later bare his name, McCarthyism, also known as the second red scare. He would go on to accuse an array of institutions and public figures of being communist sympathizers. His allegations were almost all false.

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