The CIA was established in 1947 and tasked with carrying out intelligence work outside the United States. But the agency soon strayed from its original
and to understand where that came from and maybe to resort every think just what we really do and how we assess joe mccarthy now, with almost 50 years of distance between ourselves and him. c-span: if you were there at his most visible time, where would you find him? guest: there at his most visible time? c-span: in history. guest: that would be 1950 to 1954. it s a very sharply defined career, meteoric. it starts in february of 1950, when he makes his famous speech at wheeling, west virginia, accusing the state department of harving harboring communists and communist superfized sympathizers. and then it really comes to a crashing conclusion in december of 1954 when the senate censures him, and that really is the end of joe mccarthy as a as a public figure, although not as a senator. but as a public figure it s over. c-span: a couple of basic facts. where was he from? guest: he s from wisconsin. he grew up in the farming communities that surrounded appleton, wisconsin