What if…
Senator Joseph McCarthy Became President?
In this nightmarish 1950s scenario, the political landscape of the United States takes a chilling turn as Senator Joseph McCarthy—fueled by widespread fear and public support for his anti-communist crusade—ascends to the presidency.
The Rise of McCarthy
The 1950s were already deeply entrenched in the Cold War and the Second Red Scare, with rampant anxieties about communist infiltration both at home and abroad. “Tail-Gunner Joe” McCarthy, a veteran and Republican senator from Wisconsin, capitalized on these fears by making sensational, often unsubstantiated claims of communist subversion and secret spies within government agencies. To him, the convicted perjurer and likely spy Alger Hiss was just the tip of the iceberg. While he didn’t initiate the Red Scare, his relentless campaign of accusations and public hearings catapulted him to national prominence, making him the face of the anti-communist movement.
At the height of his influence, McCarthy enjoyed significant public backing. Many Americans, weary of the Korean War and alarmed by communist advances globally, believed in the Domino Theory, and saw him as a dedicated patriot safeguarding American values. But McCarthy was never truly interested in spreading democracy—only American power. Privately, he admired the very dictators he had fought against in the war, envying their absolute control over dissent and opposition. His tactics—often characterized by aggressive interrogation and the erosion of civil liberties—resonated with a populace desperate for a strong hand against a perceived existential foreign threat. The Soviet Union had already exploded its first A-bomb.
“Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?”
In this alternate timeline, despite Harry Truman’s efforts as a sitting president (whose approval ratings dipped to around 22–32% in 1952), McCarthy’s charisma and the omnipresent anti-communist drumbeat prove overwhelming in the new medium of television. General Eisenhower had retired from public life. The public’s escalating anxieties, coupled with McCarthy’s portrayal of himself as the nation’s last hope, allow him to unify the Republican Party to gain just enough votes in the Electoral College to secure residence in the White House.
A Nation Under Siege
Upon his victory, President McCarthy, along with vice-president Nixon, immediately sets about implementing his sweeping agenda to “eradicate communism throughout the country” in his first hundred days in the Oval Office. This leads to:
Intensified Purges
Loyalty-security programs are vastly expanded and ruthlessly enforced. Not only are tens of thousands of federal employees fired, but workers in state and local governments, educational institutions, and even private industries face increasingly intense scrutiny. The same shadowy partnerships between boardrooms and government agencies that had reshaped distant nations now turned their attention inward, with corporate executives serving as eager informants in McCarthy's crusade.
Federal funding for scientific research shrinks to barebones operations. The polio vaccine never gets fully developed or disseminated. Thousands needlessly died or remain crippled for their shortened lives. Accusations—often baseless—are enough force early retirement and to end careers. Investigations widen to include civil rights activists, intellectuals, marginalized communities, and opposition politicians, while due process and habeas corpus protections are effectively ignored. Nobody can seem to hold the slippery McCarthy accountable.
Suppression of Dissent
Freedom of speech and assembly is sharply curtailed. Criticism of the government is labeled “un-American” “socialist” or “degenerate.” Citizens are encouraged to report on neighbors, coworkers, and even family members. Suspicion becomes patriotic. Even comic books are targeted, blamed for corrupting young minds and sparking juvenile delinquency. “Free expression” becomes a risky proposition.
Militarization of Society
With internal threats framed as existential, defense spending skyrockets like a Russian satellite named Sputnik. The CIA and FBI morph into the president’s personal police force. The military-industrial complex gains unchecked power. A “warfare state” mentality seeps into everyday life. Americans are urged to build bomb shelters, join armed militias, and prepare for a domestic invasion by “state criminals.” Children are taught to impulsively duck and cover in response to the flash of a possible nuclear explosion.
Erosion of Civil Liberties
Due process becomes a distant memory. Accused individuals face interrogations designed to extract confessions, not truth. Legal protections are weakened. “Innocent until proven guilty” is replaced by guilt through association. McCarthy stacks the Supreme Court with ideological allies who grant him unprecedented immunity while in office. Brown v. The Board of Education is quashed. Segregation is institutionalized. Separate But Equal becomes codified law. The Justice Department investigates critics, and whistleblower protections quietly vanish like a painful nostalgic memory.
Cultural and Intellectual Stifling
The arts, sciences, and education are stifled. Passive conformity and a herd mentality become a civic virtue. Independent thought is deemed dangerous. Xenophobia prevails. Self-censorship spreads like wildfire as fear replaces calm and deliberative inquiry—each person desperately proving their loyalty by directing suspicion elsewhere. Textbooks are cleansed of “un-American” ideas. Educators are pressured to conform or be dismissed. Universities toe the party line or lose funding. Creativity isn’t banned outright—it’s simply starved of oxygen.
The Cost of Fear
In this grim vision of the 1950s, the United States—drunk on its own power and pursuit of internal enemies—sacrifices the very democratic principles it claims to protect. The nation becomes a place where fear reigns, liberty is exchanged for security, and ideology eats away at its own foundations.
If this doesn’t sound plausible to you, where have you been living for the past six months?
This story is fiction… except when it’s not.
Plausible, indeed. As Conrad said in _The Heart of Darkness _, "The horror! The horror!
I guess I wrote a part two to this without planning to: https://open.substack.com/pub/johnmoyermedlpcncc/p/the-illegals?r=3p5dh&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false