McCarthy was roundly discredited by about '56. He was out of office by '57. By the early 60s he was largely viewed as an extremist. The election of 1964 (LBJ v

McCarthy was roundly discredited by about '56. He was out of office by '57. By the early 60s he was largely viewed as an extremist. The election of 1964 (LBJ vs Goldwater) was very conclusive: Goldwater was easy to paint as an extremist - he only got 38% of the vote, it was a landslide for LBJ. (In reality, Goldwater, or at least the Goldwater he evolved into, was nowhere near as extreme as many in his party today - he was more of a libertarian and warned against having religious extremists control the party - the GOP did not heed his warnings)