Senate Resolution 301: Censure of Senator Joseph McCarthy (1954)
On December 2, 1954, the U.S. Senate, by a 67–22 vote, passed Senate Resolution 301: Censure of Senator Joseph McCarthy. Over the preceding four years, McCarthy, the Wisconsin Republican senator, had been at the center of a firestorm of anti-Communist hysteria in the United States. From his position as chairman of the U.S. Senate's Committee on Government Operations, he formed a subcommittee, the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. In this position, he chaired investigations into alleged Communist subversion, espionage, and infiltration of the U.S. government as well as of labor unions, the entertainment industry, and other organizations and industries. According to McCarthy, these organizations were in a position to influence U.S. policies and actions with regard to the Communist Soviet Union.
The Senate did not censure McCarthy directly on the basis of the substance of his anti-Communist activities. Rather, the censure resolution was based on McCarthy's behavior in...
