McCarthy, Joseph Raymond (1908-1957), a Republican United States senator from Wisconsin, was one of the most controversial figures in American politics. He gained worldwide attention in the early 1950's by charging that Communists had infiltrated the government. McCarthy conducted several public investigations of Communist influence on U.S. foreign policy. Some people praised him as a patriot, but others condemned him for publicly accusing people of disloyalty without sufficient evidence. He did not succeed in identifying any Communists employed by the government. His widely scattered charges gave rise to a new word, McCarthyism. See McCarthyism.