Investigate. Its the 1950s and the era of mccarthy ism. Well explore the hearings. Republicans senator Joseph Mccarthy of wisconsin and instigated as he search for alleged communists in government. And well also look at the subsequent investigation of senator mccarthy himself over his attacks on the us army, which led to the senators downfall. Joining us is jim townsend, director of the levin center for oversight and democracy. Mr. Townsend. What was the mccarthy era . Well, the mccarthy era was a period in the early 1950s where the public had become really quite concerned about the possibility of communist infiltration into major american institutions, including the United States government and senator mccarthy, who was a first term senator from wisconsin, took advantage of that public concern. And his position on certain key committees in the senate to start raising allegations, making allegations against various institutions in the government, particularly in the military and in asp
You left . No answer. And this week on congress, investigate. Its the 1950s and the era of mccarthy ism. Well explore the hearings. Republicans senator Joseph Mccarthy of wisconsin and instigated as he search for alleged communists in government. And well also look at the subsequent investigation of senator mccarthy himself over his attacks on the us army, which led to the senators downfall. Joining us is jim townsend, director of the levin center for oversight and democracy. Mr. Townsend. What was the mccarthy era . Well, the mccarthy era was a period in the early 1950s where the public had become really quite concerned about the possibility of communist infiltration into major american institutions, including the United States government and senator mccarthy, who was a rst term senator from wisconsin, took advantage of that public concern. And his position on certain key committees in the senate to start raising allegations, making allegations against various institutions in the gove
I need an issue. The priest pushed very much anticommunism, traders and itorsaders in the tra in the government. You have to understand at that time in american history, it was different from today. Recognizing a communist, physical appearance counts nothing. If he declares himself to be a communist, we take his word for it. It was called the age of anxiety. It was a time of great fear. Five years after world war ii, the communist armies had taken pretty much eastern europe. In 1949, the fall of 1949, america decided, yes, communism had taken over china. In the gop came out with their platform and the basis for their platform was they went after truman and the democrats. They were soft on communism. They were socialists. They were bringing about the downfall of america. People reading this, they were very upset about what was going on. So, that was the background for mccarthy coming to wheeling. It was at the time of the lincoln day dinner. All across the country, republicans were send
He was on this mission to be a great humanitarian. Mr. Oglebay died in 1926. I think because he was a wealthy man, a very famous man in this area, people did not know him on a personal basis very well. He was very formal when he was out. I think that people are very grateful that he left his land to the city of wheeling to become a park. I think it was an amazing gift. Very generous. It was nice that the family did not quibble with any of this. They thought this was a great gift. When mr. Oglebay passed away in 1926 at the age of 77, his wife of course had predeceased him, they had the daughter sarita and her husband, and they supported it so much that they paid the taxes here until the city accepted it as a gift. It took two years for the city to accept this gift. People were reluctant because of the responsibility. But they accepted in 1928. And then, of course, it was named oglebay in his honor. Waddington farm was then named oglebay. I think of the park is a great heritage today. P
We are showcasing the history of wheeling, West Virginia. Visit cspan. Org\local content. We continue now with a look at wheeling. This is American History on cspan3. There have been a wealth of requests that the information given for anyone who might be performing any work for the communist party. The term mccarthyism entered the lexicon of American History right here in wheeling on the spot. Today we are in the Mcclure Hotel at 12th and Market Street in wheeling, West Virginia which is important because of its association with senator Joseph Mccarthy. Joseph mccarthy was only 40 in 1950 when he came to wheeling. He was not a wellregarded senator at that time. He had a penchant for calling his fellow senators names. He was always rather rumpled had an edge to him. He was at the height of his power, any sense. He was a bright man. He had a photographic memory. He tended to lie about things. He made up much of his resume that was not true. He was coming up for reelection in 1952. This i