A Brief Historiography of Joseph McCarthy and McCarthyism

Georginna Quiros

Department

History and Political Science

Major

History, Pre-Law Minor

Research Advisor

DeWitt, Petra, 1961-

Advisor's Department

History and Political Science

Abstract

This paper examines the trends and changes in the historiography of Joseph McCarthy and McCarthyism. It places emphasis on the lack of evolution in interpretation and analyzes sources from the 1950s to current works. It also analyzes the lack of substantial evidence used in the sources and argues that historians should recognize the bias in the main sources used in previous interpretations of Joseph McCarthy and McCarthyism. The paper concludes that with the discovery of new evidence released through the Freedom of Information Act the subject should be reanalyzed and old evidence should be verified.

Biography

Georginna is an undergraduate student in the History & Political Science department at Missouri University of Science and Technology with a minor in Pre-Law. She expects to graduate in Summer 2013 and plans to enroll in law school for the 2014-2015 school year. Her academic interests include political history and constitutional law.

Research Category

Arts and Humanities

Presentation Type

Oral Presentation

Document Type

Presentation

Award

Arts and humanities oral presentation, Second place

Location

Carver Room

Presentation Date

03 Apr 2013, 1:00 pm - 1:30 pm

This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS
 
Apr 3rd, 1:00 PM Apr 3rd, 1:30 PM

A Brief Historiography of Joseph McCarthy and McCarthyism

Carver Room

This paper examines the trends and changes in the historiography of Joseph McCarthy and McCarthyism. It places emphasis on the lack of evolution in interpretation and analyzes sources from the 1950s to current works. It also analyzes the lack of substantial evidence used in the sources and argues that historians should recognize the bias in the main sources used in previous interpretations of Joseph McCarthy and McCarthyism. The paper concludes that with the discovery of new evidence released through the Freedom of Information Act the subject should be reanalyzed and old evidence should be verified.