There have been several recent attempts to rehabilitate the reputation of Joe McCarthy, citing new evidence from the Soviet archives, the Venoma documents, and closed records from the Senate. McCarthy failed to dislodge a single 'Red' from the government, if any existed after the end of WW2, and drank himself to death at the age of 48, after being chastened by President Eisenhower.
It should be noted, that the attempt by McCarthy to make anti-communism a partisan tool seriously undermined the 1950's anticommunist consensus.