Exhibition Review

Temporary exhibition, Jan. 19, 2002–Jan. 4, 2004. M 10–5 (June–Aug. only), Tu–Sa 10–5, Su 12–5; adults $4, seniors $3.50, families $10, children (5–17) $2. 1,400 sq. ft. Kimberly Louagie, curator of exhibits; Matthew J. Carpenter, director of interpretive programs and curator of collections; Jane Woolsey, curator of education; Elizabeth Read, exhibits preparator; Lori A. Van Handel, marketing officer.

Internet: photographs and text <http://www.foxvalleyhistory.org/mccarthy> (Aug. 12, 2002).

According to its organizers, the exhibition "Joseph McCarthy: A Modern Tragedy" is the first exhibition to address the life and career of Joseph McCarthy, the Wisconsin senator who, in the early 1950s, helped lead the American anticommunist crusade. In ways that these organizers could not have anticipated, the timing of the exhibition is remarkably fortuitous. Opening shortly after the terrorist attacks of September 2001, it considers, against the backdrop of historical events, the important issue of how we balance national security concerns and the protection of civil liberties. The locale for this exhibition is also particularly relevant. Joseph McCarthy was born and raised on the rural outskirts of Appleton, and it was in this traditionally conservative corner of Wisconsin that he nurtured his political career. He has long been a contested figure here, but half a century after he became a household name, memories of his misdeeds have faded. The removal of the late senator's bust from the county courthouse last year perhaps signaled a willingness to confront the legacy of this city's most notorious native son.	1
The strength of this exhibition becomes immediately apparent to visitors as they enter its main room. Here the exhibition's walls and panels are festooned with photographs and artifacts acquired from McCarthy's surviving relatives as well as from archives throughout Wisconsin. The effect of viewing photographs of the aproned senator frying chicken in the kitchen of friends and artifacts such as the boxing shoes that served him in his time as a scrappy collegiate middleweight is to humanize, however briefly, a figure who has been ruthlessly caricatured and demonized. These photographs and artifacts also complement well the exhibition's recounting of McCarthy's rags-to-riches rise. McCarthy, visitors are reminded, was the child of German-Irish farmers and attended a one-room rural schoolhouse until the age of fourteen when he suddenly decided to drop out of school in order to pursue a venture in chicken farming. When this failed, McCarthy went to work for a grocery store chain and then, at the age of twenty, decided to return to school. With all the pluck, determination, and hasty preparation that would mark his subsequent political career, McCarthy earned his high school diploma in nine months while at the same time winning the honor of "most loveable man" from his junior classmates. Paraphernalia and photographs collected from his years at Marquette University attest to his industriousness and sociability. There, in addition to working, participating in the boxing and debate teams, and fraternizing with his Delta Theta Phi brothers, he studied law and engineering. Overall, the picture the exhibit renders of Joseph McCarthy in his early years is of a hardworking, personally charismatic, and remarkably ambitious young man.	2
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