Joseph McCarthy, born November 14, 1908, gained power by claiming, without evidence, that there was a Communist threat within the US government itself. | American Experience | PBS

Senator Joseph McCarthy, the man who spearheaded the anti-communist witch hunts of the Red Scare, died from complications of alcoholism on this day in 1957. Despite making countless enemies and being censured by his colleagues two years prior, his three funerals—one at St. Matthews Cathedral, one on the floor of the Senate and one in his home town of Appleton, Wisconsin—were well attended. | American Experience | PBS