Norton is correct, and Nixon was always McCarthy's political superior, never a subordinate. McCarthy hated Nixon more than anyone for engineering his downfall by the end.
How was Nixon Joe Mc Carthy's superior? McCarthy was a Senate committee Chairman when Nixon was a freshman in the House, The Vice President has no authority at all over the Senate except as a pro tem tie-breaker. I was wrong about Nixon and RFK though ( I should look thes things up)
However, JFK did run to the
right of Nixon on defense policy in 1960, claiming that Eisenhower/Nixon had allowed the formation of a "missile gap" with the USSR
From Wikipedia on Joe McCarthy:
"McCarthy established a bond with the powerful Kennedy family, which had high visibility among Catholics. McCarthy became a close friend of Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., himself a fervent anti-Communist, and was a frequent guest at the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port. He dated two of Kennedy's daughters, Patricia and Eunice,[47][48] and was godfather to Robert F. Kennedy's first child, Kathleen Kennedy. Robert was chosen by McCarthy as a counsel for his investigatory committee, but resigned after six months due to disagreements with McCarthy and Cohn. Joseph Kennedy had a national network of contacts and became a vocal supporter, building McCarthy's popularity among Catholics and making sizable contributions to McCarthy's campaigns.[49] The Kennedy patriarch hoped that one of his sons would be president. Mindful of the anti-Catholic prejudice Al Smith faced during his 1928 campaign for that office, Joseph Kennedy supported McCarthy as a national Catholic politician who might pave the way for a younger Kennedy's presidential candidacy.
Unlike many Democrats, John F. Kennedy, who served in the Senate with McCarthy from 1953 until the latter's death in 1957, never attacked McCarthy. McCarthy had refused to campaign for Kennedy's 1952 opponent, Republican incumbent Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., due to his friendship with the Kennedys.[50] Asked by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. why he avoided criticism of McCarthy, Kennedy said, "Hell, half my voters in Massachusetts look on McCarthy as a hero."