Joseph McCarthy Autographs
Joseph Raymond McCarthy (November 14, 1908 – May 2, 1957) was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. senator from Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957. Beginning in 1950, McCarthy became the most visible public face of a period in the United States in which Cold War tensions fueled fears of widespread communist subversion. He alleged that numerous communists and Soviet spies and sympathizers had infiltrated the United States federal government, universities, film industry, and elsewhere. Ultimately he was censured by the Senate in 1954 for refusing to cooperate with and abusing members of the committee established to investigate whether or not he should be censured. The term "McCarthyism", coined in 1950 in reference to McCarthy's practices, was soon applied to similar anti-communist activities. Today the term is used more broadly to mean demagogic, reckless, and unsubstantiated accusations, as well as public attacks on the character or patriotism of political opponents.
Born in Grand Chute, Wisconsin, McCarthy commissioned into the Marine Corps in 1942, where he served as an intelligence briefing officer for a dive bomber squadron. Following the end of World War II, he attained the rank of major. He volunteered to fly twelve combat missions as a gunner-observer. These missions were generally safe, and after one where he was allowed to shoot as much ammunition as he wanted, mainly at coconut trees, he acquired the nickname "Tail-Gunner Joe". Some of his claims of heroism were later shown to be exaggerated or falsified, leading many of his critics to use "Tail-Gunner Joe" as a term of mockery.
A Democrat until 1944, McCarthy successfully ran for the U.S. Senate in 1946 as a Republican, narrowly defeating incumbent Robert M. La Follette Jr. in the Wisconsin Republican primary, then Democratic challenger Howard McMurray by a 61% – 37% margin. After three largely undistinguished years in the Senate, McCarthy rose suddenly to national fame in February 1950 when he asserted in a speech that he had a list of "members of the Communist Party and members of a spy ring" who were employed in the State Department. In succeeding years after his 1950 speech, McCarthy made additional accusations of Communist infiltration into the State Department, the administration of President Harry S. Truman, the Voice of America, and the U.S. Army. He also used various charges of communism, communist sympathies, disloyalty, or sex crimes to attack a number of politicians and other individuals inside and outside of government. This included a concurrent "Lavender Scare" against suspected homosexuals, whose illicit sexual activity was presumed to make them vulnerable to blackmail by communists and others.
Read more about Joseph McCarthy on Wikipedia
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Traded items with a signature of Joseph McCarthy
The most expensive item with a signature of Joseph McCarthy (Original 84th Congress Senate Committee Brochure Signed by Joseph McCarthy – Aut) was sold in March 2026 for $500.00 while the cheapest item (Joseph McCarthy Autographed Hall Of Fame Cooperstown 3.5 x 5.5 Card) found a new owner for $5.50 in April 2013. The month with the most items sold (2) was September 2025 with an average selling price of $326.99 for an autographed item of Joseph McCarthy. Sold items reached their highest average selling price in March 2026 with $500.00 and the month that saw the lowest prices with $6.74 was February 2011. In average, an autographed item from Joseph McCarthy is worth $124.99.
Most recently, these items with a signature of Joseph McCarthy were sold on eBay - click here for more items.
| Picture | Item Title | Price | Store |
 | Joseph McCarthy Autographed 8x10 Vintage Photo USA Senator Wisconsin JSA COA | $145.99 |  |
| Joseph McCarthy Autographed Book 'The Fight For America' With JSA Letter | $300.00 | |
| Joseph McCarthy Autographed Book JSA COA United States Senator Politician | $134.99 | |
| Joseph McCarthy HAND SIGNED Senate Letter! McCarthyism! Communism! Very Rare! | $399.99 | |
| Joseph McCarthy Senator ''McCarthyism Of The 1950s'' [TLS] Typed Letter Signed | $225.00 | |
| Joseph McCarthy Signed Republican Town Committee 1955 Lincoln program autograph | $51.99 | |
| Joseph McCarthy U.S. Senator Original Multi-Signed Autograph Cut Signature | $353.99 | |
| Joseph McCarthy, Robert A. Taft, & Lawrence H. Smith Autographed Mat Piece! Rare | $160.00 | |
| Minnesota Senator Joseph McCarthy autographed photo, late 1940s | $174.95 | |
 | Original 84th Congress Senate Committee Brochure Signed by Joseph McCarthy – Aut | $500.00 | |
| Senator Joe Joseph McCarthy WI 1946 Campaign Postcard Signature Autograph Photo | $26.00 | |
| Senator Joseph McCarthy Signed Letter 1957 / Autographed | $78.99 | |
| Senator Joseph McCarthy signed letter. Senate letterhead with LOA! Feb. 21 1955 | $51.00 | |
| Senator Joseph McCarthy Signed Photo to Senate postmaster | $102.50 | |
| Senator Joseph McCarthy signed Typed Letter JSA LOA d.1957 Rare Auto Z383 | $249.00 | |
