I . Cormac McCarthy
(1933– )
a US writer who is best known for his novel All the Pretty Horses (1992), the first book in The Border Trilogy .
II . Joseph McCarthy
(1908–57)
a US politician. As a Republican (1) Senator from Wisconsin he led a campaign against Communists in US society and government in the 1950s, during the Cold War. Important and well-known people were accused of being Communists or sympathetic to Communism, often without evidence, and forced to answer questions from the Senate Permanent Investigations Subcommittee, led by McCarthy. People were also encouraged to give information about their friends and those they worked with. Many people were forced from their jobs and ‘blacklisted’ (= prevented from getting jobs in future). In 1954 the US Senate officially condemned McCarthy’s activities and his influence decreased. Most Americans are now unhappy that the McCarthy trials were allowed to happen, and admire anyone who opposed them or refused to give evidence.
Compare House Un-American Activities Committee .
► McCarthyism n [ U ]
extreme opposition to Communism, as shown by Senator Joseph McCarthy in his campaign against people suspected of being Communists in the US. The word is also used more generally to mean the practice of investigating and accusing people who are thought to be opposed to the government, without sufficient evidence.
III . Mary McCarthy
(1912–89)
a US writer whose intelligent novels made comments about American society. These include The Groves of Academe (1952), The Group (1963) and Cannibals and Missionaries (1979). She also wrote books about literature, travel books and Memories of a Catholic Girlhood (1957), about her own early life. She was married to the writer Edmund Wilson (1895–1972).