In the years following World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union entered upon the brink of the Cold War, which lasted from the late 1940s into the early 1950s. During this time, the United States broke into hysteria over supposed threats of communist in the country, thus brining forth the second red scare. After rising to political power, Republican Senator Joseph P. McCarthy was not only looked upon as an enduring symbol of the red scare brining forth the term known as McCarthyism, but was able to have a profound effect on government and society forceing people to draw loyalties until the scares eventual fall.…
McCarthy, he believed anybody who was part of the Communist Party associated or spoke with anybody of the Communist Party we’re spies to take down America. He inspired witch-hunts of anybody associated with the Communist Party. McCarthy’s downfall came when he did televised hearings going after the United States Army he did this for eight weeks. McCarthy interrogated army officials, including many decorated war heroes. But this was his mistake because it showed how mean-spirited his campaign was. After that, the army went on the attack and ripped his campaign to shred. In one of the televised hearings Council for the Army simply asked McCarthy, "At long last, have you no sense of decency…
In the late 1940s and throughout the 1950s, Americans suffered from a political and cultural hysteria caused by fear and anxiety about the Soviet threat. Capitalizing on those concerns, a young Senator named Joseph McCarthy made a public accusation that…
Hysteria, pandemonium, chaos, words that attempt to describe the state of America during the horrific period known to history as the "Red Scare". A coup of power in American life was recently completed in Senator Joseph McCarthy's rise to national attention as "judge, jury, prosecutor, castigator, and press agent, all in one." (Army-McCarthy Hearings) The Wisconsin Republican Senator was successfully trampling the State Department and other federal agencies, filling each day's headlines with new accusations of Communists inside American society. Perhaps the biggest change in communication, the television, was just now coming into trend. Notably successful in spreading both news and hysteria, it would prove to be crucial during McCarthy's…
In the 1950s, the United States was involved in a cold war with the Soviet Union. Due to this, Americans became suspicious and well concerned about communism expansion in the U.S. As a result, President Truman allowed McCarthy, a junior senator from Wisconsin, to lead the interrogation of Communist spies. However, McCarthy accused many innocent people with little evidence. When people realized what he was doing, they called it McCarthyism. There was a price to pay in the effort to expose communism. Thousands of people lost their jobs, never got hired, or were blacklisted. As a result, people decided to keep their opinions private so they wouldn’t be accused of being a Communist. I believe that the short-term and long-term effects of McCarthyism were not necessary.…
McCarthyism was introduced by Senator Joseph McCarthy during the Second Red Scare that in general lasted between 1950 and 1956. During this period, McCarthy accused thousands of Americans of being "communists or communist sympathizers," leading to government and private-industry investigations and hearings. McCarthy's primary targets were "government employees, those in the entertainment industry, educators and union activists" ("McCarthyism").…
The 1950’s dealt with threats from the USSR and Communism which scared many people in the United States and soon became a full-fledged paranoia. There was fear of falling behind the advances of the Communist countries, especially among the Soviet Union, creating the Red Scare. As the Cold War with the USSR escalated, Americans increased their suspicions of Communist influences. Due to this, a special committee was formed in order to investigate Communists in America known as HUAC (The House Un-American Activities Committee). In 1947, HUAC accused ten people in Hollywood of supporting communist propaganda becoming blacklisted. As time went on, more individuals were being suspected of being Communists which eventually led to the act of McCarthyism…
One of the main reasons to prove that the actions during the Red Scare weren't justified was because it broke people constitutional rights. During a speech Senator Margaret Smith of Maine said this inspiring quote, “The right to criticize; The right to hold unpopular beliefs; The right to protest; the right of independent thought.” Now, to some this might just look like a list of rights an American has. But to many, this is an inspiring quote of the things great about America and the things that McCarthy, Congress, and the HUAAC attacked. This shows that McCarthyism broke many of the rights that they as Americans had and deserved to keep.…
McCarthyism was the fear of communism which spread across America in the 1950's. The hysteria of the American citizens was due to the threat that communism would spread across the globe. This is when the paranoia began to start. During this period the FBI accused many people of communism, meaning that the accused suffered from job loss, and many of their lives, as they knew them, were destroyed. The movement took the name from the anti-communist leader Joseph McCarthy. Hence, McCarthyism.…
McCarthy turned Americans against each other through McCarthyism and caused many to have drastic changes in their lifestyle, just as a means of gaining popularity from people. Several Americans didn’t have trust for anyone, other than McCarthy, the one who should’ve not…
For fear of people’s sweet, good, pure country being contaminated by commies, senator Joseph McCarthy accused 57 people of being communists (Kelley). A country at fear, the crime for being a communist was treason, a major offense. With no evidence to acquit themselves, the accused became the accusers, making their own claims of a hidden communist. This started a mass uproar of neighbor turning on neighbor, with accusation left and right. With all of the anti-Russia and anti-Communism propaganda, being accused of being a communist was just as bad as being Hitler. So the people’s falsified claims of communists were justified by their fear of associated with a malevolent evil and a life of jail. But that was then and this is now, things are different,…
Today there are many examples of McCarthyism that exist in the world around us. The fact that McCarthyism still exists is a little frightening. McCarthyism is still attacking people all over the world and it needs to stop. Here are a few things that are outrageous to think of. December 21, 2001 a tenured professor was fired for his assignment that he wanted his class to do. Sami al-Arian was fired for his beliefs and his way of trying to get American scholars to learn the ways of the Muslim people. This is only one example of McCarthyism there are a lot more.…
Joseph McCarthy was the Senator of Wisconsin and as his term was ending, he knew his first term did not appeal to the people and he began to look for ways to secure his seat as the Senator for another term. During this time the people were already terrified of communism due to “the Soviet Union exploded its first atomic bomb. Later that year, Communist forces declared victory in the Chinese Civil War and established the People’s Republic of China. In 1950, North Korea’s Soviet-backed army invaded its pro-Western neighbors to the South; in response, the United States entered the conflict on the side of South Korea.” McCarthy then claimed he knew of 205 people in the State Department who were communists. The people became terrified and demanded that the list of those must be intensely interviewed to determine if they were in fact communists. The people on the list were not communists, but for two years he investigated them and it became known as McCarthyism. He also accused many public citizens such as newspaper writers who went against his views. Then in October of 1953, McCarthy began to go downhill. He accused the military to be communists. President Dwight D. Eisenhower decided that was enough and it was time for him to step in. “Through the televised investigations into the United States Army and the reporters’ attack, the nation grew to realize that McCarthy was “evil and unmatched in malice.”” In…
The fear of Communism has long lived in the hearts of Americans, proud of their democratic domain. This fear came about after World War One, and came to be known as the Red Scare. Right wing government officials used this paranoia in order to prosecute thousands of left wing activists. This ordeal reemerged after World War Two had ended, the Second Red Scare had started. A leading politician of the prosecution of many leftist during the Second Red Scare was senator Joseph McCarthy. McCarthy fed off of the paranoia that struck America, and accused many of his enemies, mainly consisting of democrats, of being communist or communist sympathizers. He destroyed many government officials careers, along with other politicians, actors, and writers,…
McCarthyism, named after a former U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy, is a termed used to describe anti-communism era of the 50’s. During this time, McCarthyism created a wealth of problems for the government and caused many social issues. When Senator McCarthy claimed to be able to identify "Communist in the State Department" (Davidson et al., 2005) it caused fear and hysteria towards anything foreign or liberal. There was never any real basis on most of his claims but it gained him recognition politically. As a…