On December 2, 1954, the U.S. Senate, by a 67–22 vote, censured the Wisconsin Republican senator Joseph R. Mc-Carthy. Over the preceding four years, McCarthy had been at the center of a firestorm of anti-Communist hysteria in the United States. From his position as chairman of the U.S. Senate’s Committee on Government Operations, he formed a subcommittee, the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. In this position, he chaired investigations into alleged Communist subversion, espionage, and infiltration of the U.S. government as well as of labor unions, the entertainment industry, and other organizations and industries. According to McCarthy, these organizations were in a position to influence U.S. policies and actions with regard to the Communist Soviet Union.