Portrait of Joseph McCarthy by George Tames

Every Thursday evening, the National Portrait Gallery presents “Face-to-Face,” a portrait talk about a selected portrait on view in the gallery. As part of this regular series, NPG historian David Ward discussed this photograph of Joseph McCarthy, taken in 1954 by George Tames. You can see this portrait in the “Twentieth-Century Americans” exhibition on the third floor.

On February 9, 1950, a little known junior senator from Wisconsin, Joseph McCarthy, proclaimed that he had a list of 205 Communist Party members who worked in the State Department with the full knowledge of the secretary of state. McCarthy’s speech came shortly after the Communist takeover in China, the U.S.S.R’s successful detonation of an atomic bomb, and suspected spy Alger Hiss’s conviction for perjury.

For many, McCarthy’s charges explained why the West was experiencing setbacks, and made him a formidable political force. It marked the beginning of demagogic red baiting and made the term "McCarthyism" synonymous with hysterical anti-Communism. McCarthy had no evidence for his accusations and was censured by the Senate in 1954; "McCarthyism" would be remembered for its corrosive effect on America’s ability to deal effectively with real Communists abroad and at home.  Sitting to McCarthy’s left is Roy Cohn, lead investigator for McCarthy’s Senate subcommittee.

Listen to David Ward's Face-to-Face talk on Joseph McCarthy (33:27)

The next Face-to-Face portrait talk is this Thursday, November 6, when National Portrait Gallery Director Martin Sullivan speaks about the temporary installation "Four Indian Kings."  The talk runs from 6:00 to 6:30 p.m. Visitors meet the presenter in the museum’s F Street lobby and then walk to the appropriate gallery.

Joseph McCarthy and Roy Cohn/George Tames, 1954/National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Frances O. Tames/ © The New York Times/George Tames