(Washington Stand) Less than five years after the end of the Second World War, as the communist Soviet Union rapidly consolidated its control over much of central and Eastern Europe, Senator Joseph McCarthy (R-Wis.) introduced a shocking claim: Anywhere from 50 to more than 200 communist agents were working in the U.S. government, covertly advancing the agenda of international communism and subverting American culture and society.
“The State Department is infested with communists,” McCarthy is reported to have said, speaking at a Republican fundraising event in February of 1950. The senator produced a piece of paper which he said contained the names of known communists in the employ of then-president Harry Truman’s State Department. There is no audio or video recording of the speech and there is some dispute over whether McCarthy alleged that there 57 communists in the State Department or 205; many of those present reported that McCarthy said “205,” although others report that he said “57,” which is the number McCarthy cited both in communications to Truman and in the congressional record.