| Senator Joseph R. McCarthy |
For a few months in the spring and summer of 1953, as he was preparing to start in at
D.C.'s George Washington University, Carvajal worked as a White House and Capitol
Hill news photographer. Part of his regular routine was covering the McCarthy Hearings
in the Old Senate Office Building (public proceedings which were to deteriorate into the
infamous "Anti-communist Witchhunt.") In those days, only a few news photographers
(three or four) covered such proceedings (unlike the mobs of still photographers and TV
camera crews of today.) Carvajal was only 21 years old at the time.. Republican
McCarthy, a friendly man in spite of the terrible reputation he later developed, took a
liking to Joe, calling him "the kid" as the committee convened for business each morning.
That's a very young (just out of college) Bobby Kennedy there in the background. He
was a lawyer and an aide to the Democrats on the McCarthy Committee (including his
brother, Senator John F. Kennedy.). Bobby, too, would chat with Carvajal before the
first witnesses arrived to be raked over the coals by the fiery Joe McCarthy. The two
would often meet again later, when JFK was President, Bobby was Attorney General
and Carvajal was a Federal government publicist involved in many White House and
other "Camelot events." Carvajal also became Executive Secretary to the President's
Committee on Employment of the Handicapped, and worked with Eunice Kennedy
Shriver while in that position.
The McCarthy Hearings were like a Roman Circus, with accused communists being
"thrown to the lions," their reputations and careers ruined. In these early days of the
hearings (when the targets were mostly college professors and show-business
executives), everyone generally approved, but things fell apart for McCarthy later, when
he began going after people in the U.S. State Department and in the U.S. Army. After
being made a Washington pariah, McCarthy died relatively young, a bitter and broken
man.
Addendum: After viewing the hundreds of photos of Senator McCarthy available
through various sources, this Joe Carvajal shot was chosen (off the Internet, and from
this website) for use in a permanent "History of the U.S. Army" display at the Pentagon.
The display, in the ornate hallway outside the offices of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was
scheduled to open in the autumn of 2006. Carvajal was contacted and his permission
requested for use of the picture (without payment.) He immediately agreed.
Pentagon Exhibit Bobby Kennedy Eunice Kennedy Shriver John F. Kennedy
D.C.'s George Washington University, Carvajal worked as a White House and Capitol
Hill news photographer. Part of his regular routine was covering the McCarthy Hearings
in the Old Senate Office Building (public proceedings which were to deteriorate into the
infamous "Anti-communist Witchhunt.") In those days, only a few news photographers
(three or four) covered such proceedings (unlike the mobs of still photographers and TV
camera crews of today.) Carvajal was only 21 years old at the time.. Republican
McCarthy, a friendly man in spite of the terrible reputation he later developed, took a
liking to Joe, calling him "the kid" as the committee convened for business each morning.
That's a very young (just out of college) Bobby Kennedy there in the background. He
was a lawyer and an aide to the Democrats on the McCarthy Committee (including his
brother, Senator John F. Kennedy.). Bobby, too, would chat with Carvajal before the
first witnesses arrived to be raked over the coals by the fiery Joe McCarthy. The two
would often meet again later, when JFK was President, Bobby was Attorney General
and Carvajal was a Federal government publicist involved in many White House and
other "Camelot events." Carvajal also became Executive Secretary to the President's
Committee on Employment of the Handicapped, and worked with Eunice Kennedy
Shriver while in that position.
The McCarthy Hearings were like a Roman Circus, with accused communists being
"thrown to the lions," their reputations and careers ruined. In these early days of the
hearings (when the targets were mostly college professors and show-business
executives), everyone generally approved, but things fell apart for McCarthy later, when
he began going after people in the U.S. State Department and in the U.S. Army. After
being made a Washington pariah, McCarthy died relatively young, a bitter and broken
man.
Addendum: After viewing the hundreds of photos of Senator McCarthy available
through various sources, this Joe Carvajal shot was chosen (off the Internet, and from
this website) for use in a permanent "History of the U.S. Army" display at the Pentagon.
The display, in the ornate hallway outside the offices of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was
scheduled to open in the autumn of 2006. Carvajal was contacted and his permission
requested for use of the picture (without payment.) He immediately agreed.
Pentagon Exhibit Bobby Kennedy Eunice Kennedy Shriver John F. Kennedy
| Another Carvajal shot, taken just before Bobby arrived and Joe moved in for a closeup shot. |
| Edward R. Murrow's See It Now TV camera crew. Murrow was hightly critical of McCarthy. Joe McCarthy sneeringly called him "Egbert," which was actually Murrow's birth name. |
| Edward R. Murrow (file photo) |