When was mccarthy censured

The U. Senate votes 65 to 22 to condemn Senator Joseph R. McCarthy for conduct unbecoming of a senator. State Department. The unsubstantiated declaration, which was little more than a publicity stunt, thrust Senator McCarthy into the national spotlight.

Asked to reveal the names on the list, the opportunistic senator named just one official who he determined guilty by association: Owen Lattimore, an expert on Chinese culture and affairs who had advised the State Department. These and other equally shocking accusations prompted the Senate to form a special committee, headed by Senator Millard Tydings of Maryland , to investigate the matter. In widely publicized hearings, McCarthy bullied defendants under cross-examination with unlawful and damaging accusations, destroying the reputations of hundreds of innocent officials and citizens.

In the early months of , McCarthy, who had already lost the support of much of his party because of his controversial tactics, finally overreached himself when he accused several U. Army officers of communist subversion. Republican President Dwight D. A climax of the hearings came on June 9, when Joseph N. Let us not assassinate this lad further, senator.

You have done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you no sense of decency? The hearings were watched on TV by more than 20 million Americans. Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency? By the summer of , the Senate decided to take action against McCarthy. McCarthy verbally abused some of his colleagues during hearings that started in August. The Senate then reconvened in a lame-duck session after the November election to consider two charges.

By the end of the year, the Senate decided that its own honor could no longer put up with McCarthy's abuse of his legislative powers, and it censured him in December by a vote of 65 to Resolved, That the Senator from Wisconsin, Mr. McCarthy, failed to cooperate with the Subcommittee on Privileges and Elections of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration in clearing up matters referred to that subcommittee which concerned his conduct as a Senator and affected the honor of the Senate and, instead, repeatedly abused the subcommittee and its members who were trying to carry out assigned duties, thereby obstructing the constitutional processes of the Senate, and that this conduct of the Senator from Wisconsin, Mr.

McCarthy, is contrary to senatorial traditions and is hereby condemned. Sec 2. The Senator from Wisconsin, Mr.