Editing McCarthyism (section)

==Start of McCarthy's involvement==
[[File:Joseph McCarthy.jpg|thumb|Senator [[Joseph McCarthy]] in 1954]]

McCarthy's involvement in these issues began publicly with a speech he made on [[Lincoln Day]], February 9, 1950, to the Republican Women's Club of [[Wheeling, West Virginia]]. He brandished a piece of paper, which he claimed contained a list of known communists working for the State Department. McCarthy is usually quoted as saying: "I have here in my hand a list of 205—a list of names that were made known to the Secretary of State as being members of the Communist Party and who nevertheless are still working and shaping policy in the State Department."{{sfn|Griffith|1970|p=49}} This speech resulted in a flood of press attention to McCarthy and helped establish his path to becoming one of the most recognized politicians in the United States.

The first recorded use of the term "McCarthyism" was in the [[The Christian Science Monitor|''Christian Science Monitor'']] on March 28, 1950 ("Their little spree with McCarthyism is no aid to consultation").<ref>{{OED|McCarthyism, n.}}; citing ''Christian Science Monitor'', March 28, 1950, p. 20.</ref> The paper became one of the earliest and most consistent critics of the Senator.<ref>Strout, Lawrence N. (1999). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=jelmqLDGbFUC Covering McCarthyism: how the 'Christian Science Monitor' handled Joseph R. McCarthy, 1950–1954]''. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. "Introduction".</ref> The next recorded use happened on the following day, in a [[political cartoon]] by [[The Washington Post|''Washington Post'']] editorial cartoonist [[Herblock|Herbert Block (Herblock)]]. The cartoon depicts four leading Republicans trying to push an elephant (the traditional symbol of the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]]) to stand on a platform atop a teetering stack of ten tar buckets, the topmost of which is labeled "McCarthyism". Block later wrote: "Nothing [was] particularly ingenious about the term, which is simply used to represent a national affliction that can hardly be described in any other way. If anyone has a prior claim on it, he's welcome to the word and to the junior senator from Wisconsin along with it. I will also throw in a set of free dishes and a case of soap."{{sfn|Block|1952|p=152}}