A short life of the author
Joseph Raymond McCarthy (1908–1957) was a Republican U.S. Senator from Wisconsin who, beginning with his February 1950 speech in Wheeling, West Virginia — in which he claimed to have a list of Communists working in the State Department — launched a campaign of accusations, hearings, and investigations that convulsed American political life for four years. “McCarthyism” became synonymous with demagogic accusation, guilt by association, and the destruction of civil liberties in the name of national security.
Published Works
America’s Retreat from Victory: The Story of George Catlett Marshall (1951, Devin-Adair) — McCarthy’s attack on General George C. Marshall, whom he accused of being part of “a conspiracy so immense” to aid Communist expansion. The charge against Marshall — a national hero — was widely seen as evidence that McCarthy had overreached.
McCarthyism: The Fight for America (1952, Devin-Adair) — his defence of his investigations, ghostwritten with the assistance of his staff.
McCarthy was censured by the Senate in 1954 and died of hepatitis (likely exacerbated by alcoholism) in 1957 at forty-eight.
Collecting McCarthy
McCarthy’s books are collected as Cold War artefacts. America’s Retreat from Victory (1951, Devin-Adair) and McCarthyism (1952) first editions bring $50–$200. Signed copies are scarce. The books are primarily of interest to collectors of political Americana and Cold War history.