War and depression inevitably lead to hate mongering and a need to lay blame. It was into this atmosphere that Senator Joseph McCarthy appeared on the American political scene. After nearly two decades of economic and social instability, beginning with the Great Depression, continued by the Second World War and topped off by the Korean War, McCarthy's statement that "The government is full of Communists," was precisely what the American public was searching for; a scapegoat. This unsubstantiated accusation launched McCarthy's status. McCarthy simply promised to rid the nation of its Communist infestation. With McCarthy and his anti-communist views came a feeling of security, a sense of return to the way things used to be. His claim of "205 communists in the State Department" was taken very seriously by the Truman administration. The State Department sent a request to McCarthy for the names of these traitors and promised an immediate investigation. McCarthy was not in a positio!
             n to supply this list. It seems, from later reports that McCarthy had no such list. McCarthyism was possibly the most powerful movement of the early 1950s. Senator McCarthy quickly rose to a position of unmatched power. By 1951 he managed to have the government fear his every move. No move, either by the outgoing Truman administration or Eisenhower's administration, could be considered without contemplating what Senator McCarthy would think of it. By using the Multiple Untruth and by twisting facts and manipulating people McCarthy had the American public believing all of his claims. In order to control his fellow politicians and other Washington insiders that could jeopardize his power, McCarthy had a very significant power. If he wanted to he could lay a false accusation of communist ties on almost anybody in America. Using this fear McCarthy convinced many fellow politicians and other influential persons to support his ways. All this resulted
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