As an effort to get rid of any disloyal Americans, President Harry Truman established loyalty boards in 1947 (Zeinert 27). These boards were meant to identify anyone who may possibly be a threat to United States Security. .
At the same time, a senator from Wisconsin was looking for an issue to capture support and press attention since his hopes of re-election were in danger. Senator Joe McCarthy had previously failed to distinguish himself and went from one cause to another without much conviction. This all changed shortly after the 1949 Hiss and Fuchs investigations, where spies were believed to help the soviets produce the atom bomb by passing along, when he decided communism was the issue he was looking for (Winkler 32). In 1950 McCarthy gave a speech in Wheeling, West Virginia, which gained the attention he desired (Rovere 6). Shortly after, February 20, 1950, he took the senate floor where he claimed to give what was the text of his Wheeling Speech. In his speech there was some general talk about communism, but he also presented a list of two hundred five suspects, compiled by a former F.B.I. agent, by the name of Robert E. Lee. The House of Representatives ignored the list several years earlier when first introduced due to lack of evidence. Later on McCarthy's original list of two hundred five suspects was reduced to fifty-seven, in part because one hundred eight "risks" had left the department. McCarthy then further reduced the number in 1950. In an attempt to keep his source a secret, which he falsely claimed had been produced at great risk, McCarthy switched the order of names. Needless to say, the senate was not impressed with Joe McCarthy. Especially since he exaggerated the information obtained from Lee, and his allegations were based purely on rumors. Senator Robert Taft's regarded these actions as "a perfectly reckless performance" (Oshinsky 114). Despite the comment, the public was frightened by McCarthy's accusations.