Early Life
McCarthy was the son of a deeply religious mother of German descent, Anna (née Baden), and strong-willed father of Irish descent, Michael J. McCarthy, who was a postmaster and cattle buyer known for his earthy wit. McCarthy grew up in Watkins, Minnesota, as one of four children, and attended St. Anthony's Catholic School in Watkins. A bright student who spent hours reading his aunt's Harvard Classics, he was deeply influenced by the monks at nearby St. John's Abbey and University. McCarthy spent nine months as a novice before he left the monastery, causing a fellow novice to say, "It was like losing a 20-game winner."
McCarthy graduated from Saint John's Preparatory School (Collegeville, Minnesota) in 1931. He was a 1935 graduate of Saint John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota. McCarthy earned his master's degree from the University of Minnesota in 1939. He taught in various public schools in Minnesota and North Dakota from 1935 to 1940, when he became a professor of economics and education at St. John's, working there from 1940 to 1943.
He was a civilian technical assistant in the Military Intelligence Division of the War Department in 1944 and an instructor in sociology and economics at the College of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota from 1946 to 1949.
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