joseph mccarthy was only 40 in 1950 when he came to wheeling. he was not a well regarded senator at that time. he had a penchant for calling his fellow senators names. he was always a rather rumpled had an age to him. but he was at the height of his power. he had a photographic memory. unfortunately, he also tended to lie about a lot of things. he made up his own resume. a lot of which was not true. he had been elected to the senate in 1946. he was coming up for reelection in 1952. this is 1950, and a lot of people felt he had not done a lot. he was getting a little concerned. so he got a group of advisors together in a colony in dce one of which was a jesuit priest from georgetown. and he said, what can i run on? the priest pushed very much anti-communism, traders and the government. that was kind of his basis for hitting on a theme for reelection. but you have to understand, at that time in american history it was different than today. >> recognizing a communist physical appearance counts for nothing. if he openly declares himself to be a comm

people feared joseph mccarthy. if you took him on in the senate, you could often end up without a job. it he had power. he had subpoena power. he had all kinds of power. the longer he went, he took on general george marshall, the hero of world war ii, and he just went after marshall, and they thought surely he would come out and take him on, but he didn't. that was not eisenhower's way. but when he took on marshall that was pretty bad. and then he went after the army and communists in the army. and he did not take on the army so easily. the army had a lawyer, mr. welsh. >> senator mccarthy, i don't know anything about the application he filled out. mr. dinkins -- you don't know anything about that? senator mccarthy -- i never saw it. senator, i have the application that he filled out, and i can show you -- >> don't tell me i notarized it? >> what? >> don't tell me i notarized it. >> no, you merely signed it. [laughter] >> there were 36 days of hearings in 1954 on television -- and television came into the picture.

people fear joseph mccarthy. if you took him on in the senate, you could often end up without a job. it he had power. he had subpoena power. he had all kinds of power. the longer he went, he took on general george marshall, the hero of world war ii, and he just went after marshall, and they thought surely he would come out and take him on, but he didn't. that was not eisenhower's way. but when he took on marshall, that was pretty bad. and then he went after the army and communists in the army. and he did not take on the army so easily. the army had a lawyer, mr. welsh. >> senator mccarthy, i don't know anything about the application he filled out. mr. dinkins -- you don't know anything about that? senator mccarthy -- i never saw it. senator, i have the application that he filled out, and i can show you -- >> don't tell me i notarized it? >> what? >> don't tell me i notarized it. >> no, you merely signed it. [laughter] >> there were 36 days of hearings in 1954 on television -- and television came into the picture.

i believe the board of education might've considered senator joseph mccarthy high school but decided it was cheaper to do douglas macarthur. >> hi, i was wondering what the news stories and actual people, how many lawyers to do in your publisher have? >> for me say this. if i'm ever missing for more than her days, dick cheney. it is a wonderful question. so the publisher, simon & schuster assigned a lawyer to those who read every word. most of the lawyer's concerns were the typical concerns that any author would have or lawyer would have with an author in terms of place as, any kind of protecting the publisher and me for many lawsuits. there were several occasions where you can talk about this. since there's nothing in this book that in any way shape or form comes remotely close to anything i heard they shouldn't report, there's no problem. dick cheney is a public figure. i'm a public figure. washington has to learn because the rest of the country laughs at us but there were no issues with respect to lawyers in the briefings and meetings that i went to. we have a very rigorous ethics

bomb chucking character assassinating ted cruz gives his salute to a hard drinking lad named joseph mccarthytonight, he can speak for himself and the progressive and moderate forces in the could be try. it's not going to be a fair fight thanks entirely to the president's critics that aligned themselves at each election. they need to hide on nights like tonight when the entire country is watching. that is "hardball" for now, the msnbc special coverage of the address begins right now. >>> good evening and welcome to msnbc's special coverage of the state of the union address. to article two, section three of