Eisenhower’s Private Responses to Senator Joseph McCarthy (1954)

Date: May 31, 1954

Created By: James C. Hagerty

Original or Replica: Original

Era: McCarthyism and the Red Scare, The Presidency

Collection: Eisenhower Presidential Library

Citations: James C. Hagerty Papers, Box 1, May, 1954;NAID #16703030

During the early 1950s, Wisconsin Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy became nationally known for his investigations into alleged Communist influence within the federal government. McCarthy claimed that Communists had infiltrated government agencies and later expanded his accusations to include the U.S. military and members of the Eisenhower administration. His investigations and aggressive tactics contributed to growing political tensions during the early Cold War.

These diary excerpts were written by James C. Hagerty, President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s White House Press Secretary. They provide an inside account of the administration’s response to McCarthy, particularly concerns that congressional investigators might subpoena military officials or White House advisers and force them to testify. Hagerty records Eisenhower’s private conversations and reactions as the administration considered how to respond.

The entries reveal Eisenhower’s intense frustration with McCarthy and his investigative methods. Eisenhower believed McCarthy’s tactics threatened constitutional government, national security, and the functioning of the executive branch. Hagerty records the president insisting that he would not compromise his principles to accommodate McCarthy and would resist attempts to subpoena White House officials. At one point, Eisenhower even compares McCarthy’s methods to those used by Adolf Hitler.

These diary entries provide students with a rare view of Eisenhower’s private thoughts and demonstrate how his administration worked to undermine McCarthy’s influence, even when Eisenhower often avoided attacking the senator publicly by name.