# The Beatnik Excoricism Of Senator Joe "Tailgunner" McCarthy. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 20, 2017, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beatnik-excoricism-of-senator-joe-tailgunner-mccarthy/784877 "2017-04-20T21:51:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2017, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beatnik-excoricism-of-senator-joe-tailgunner-mccarthy/784877/1 "2017-04-20T21:51:42Z")
It happened in 1968, and I remember it like it was an Internet Web-link… > **[The Beatnik Exorcism of Senator Joe McCarthy's Grave](https://www.cultofweird.com/death/exorcism-of-joe-mccarthy/)** > > In 1968, beatnik poet Allen Ginsberg and avant-rock group The Fugs gathered at the grave of Senator Joe McCarthy in Appleton, Wis., for an exorcism. > [@](#): > > McCarthy was censured by the Senate in 1954, and he died several years later in 1957. His body was returned to his home state of Wisconsin, where some 17,000 people, three senators, and even Robert F. Kennedy, attended the funeral. McCarthy was interred in the St. Mary’s Parish Cemetery along the Fox River. > > A decade later, at the height of the counterculture, the legacy of McCarthy lived on. A politically subversive band called The Fugs found themselves in Appleton on tour in 1968, and decided to put an end to his evil once and for all. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2017, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beatnik-excoricism-of-senator-joe-tailgunner-mccarthy/784877/2 "2017-04-20T22:16:34Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > It happened in 1968, and I remember it like it was an Internet Web-link… > [The Beatnik Exorcism of Senator Joe McCarthy's Grave](http://www.cultofweird.com/death/exorcism-of-joe-mccarthy/) Interesting, but the most interesting thing is that in the 60’s we launched our submarines a bit oddly. > [@](#): > > Ed Sanders was arrested in 1961 for disrupting the launch of a nuclear submarine in a canoe. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2017, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beatnik-excoricism-of-senator-joe-tailgunner-mccarthy/784877/3 "2017-04-21T00:18:48Z")
I remember when this happened. Hell, I even had an album by the Fugs. Good times. ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2017, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beatnik-excoricism-of-senator-joe-tailgunner-mccarthy/784877/4 "2017-04-21T12:48:32Z")
I like the word “excoricism” in the thread title. It has a Lewis Carroll “portmanteau” feel to it – combining / conflating “excoriate” (secondary meaning, make a scathing attack on), and “exorcism”. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2017, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beatnik-excoricism-of-senator-joe-tailgunner-mccarthy/784877/5 "2017-04-21T16:54:34Z")
…I misread that as “exorcism”. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2017, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beatnik-excoricism-of-senator-joe-tailgunner-mccarthy/784877/6 "2017-04-21T22:31:51Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > Interesting, but the most interesting thing is that in the 60’s we launched our submarines a bit oddly. You wins dat Interwebs…and a Chocolate Monkey. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2017, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beatnik-excoricism-of-senator-joe-tailgunner-mccarthy/784877/7 "2017-04-21T22:39:29Z")
> [@Sangahyando](#): > > I like the word “excoricism” in the thread title. It has a Lewis Carroll “portmanteau” feel to it – combining / conflating “excoriate” (secondary meaning, make a scathing attack on), and “exorcism”. I too came to this post to praise the use of this word. My exploration of its use via Google seems to show that its other internet appearances are all just variations of typos and attempts to spell “exorcism”. Good job, **Bosda**!