Owen Lattimore was fired from his job at John Hopkins University and shunned from his friends, all from being falsely accused as a Soviet Union spy. Owen was one of thousands of innocent victims as a result of The Red Scare. As the Cold War intensified so did americans threats of communists infiltrating the U.S. This led to a massive witch hunt for communists in America also known as The Red Scare. There were many factors that led to the Red scare due to America’s government and society. Fear was a large factor that led to the making of The Red Scare. To begin with, The U.S. government raised fear of communists. The president at the time of the cold war, Harry S. Truman signed executive act 9835 or better known as the loyalty order. This order mandated all federal employees be analyzed whether they were loyal to the U.S. or not. This allowed loyalty programs throughout the administration to compile lists of people and programs that were thought to be “dangerous”. At the height of the loyalty orders investigations, there was about 2,700 dismissals and 12,000 resignations (Truman’s). The act raised fear throughout America that the country would be overthrown by communism. The government also made The House of Un-American Activities Committee. In 1938, the U.S. House of Representatives formed this committee to expose communists working inside the country (Red Scare). The HUAC gained more publicity after World War 2 with their investigations. The Committee was able to
The Red Scare reflected the fear of Americans which they had of communists infiltrating the US government. Sacco and Vanzetti’s arrest and execution made foreigners fear America even more, especially the anarchists. This caused worldwide dispute over whether they were given
Mass hysteria has been part of history since the beginning of time. It happened in the United States the years 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts. In Salem, two young girls were responsible for starting mass hysteria by showing erratic behavior and accusing other people of witchcraft. This resulted in the death of over 20 people. Salem citizens were very confused and scared because they were never sure of how secure they actually were. Another reason Salem citizens were nervous was because, if their fate was put to the test, it would be in the hands of an unreliable court. Another event that involves mass hysteria was the one known as “The Red Scare”. The Red Scare was a variety of actions that led to an enduring episode of fear and hostility through the years 1940s and 1950s. The Red Scare was caused by a series of threats towards America. The Red Scare had many figures but two that were exemplary to others were Hoover and McCarthy. These men stirred up the environment with more problems than it had before. Citizens of America were surrounded by many threats especially their homes being corrupted by the pressure they were surrounded by. Politics played a very keystone part in The Red Scare because it was the fuel to the fire. Families and friends were being separated since
The Red scare was a series of witch hunts for suspected communist sympathetic members of congress and public office holding Citizens who were supposedly “Red” this lasted from (1919-1920) started by the Bolshevik revolution in Russia. During the first war the Red Scared was represented the widespread concern that Americans had developed over the fear of communist subversion within society. The American people went into a mass hysteric frenzy over the news and many
The Red Scare and McCarthyism had begun Paranoia, disloyalty, people losing jobs. The Red Scare and McCarthyism both made everything else worse. Communism is a political theory derived from Karl Marx, advocating class war and leading to a society in which all property is publicly owned and each person works and is paid according to their abilities and needs. At the end of the month when they get their paychecks they both end up with the same amount of money it is not fair, right? but that is more or less what McCarthyism is. During the 1950s, there was a great amount of paranoia and the government technically speaking did not confide in anyone else and falsely accused other people (Essay). The government was so paranoid that they had
The First and Second Red Scare of the United States paved the way for a long standing fear of communism and proved to be one of America’s largest periods of mass hysteria. Throughout the years authors and analysts have studied and formed expository albeit argumentative books and articles in an attempt to further understand this period of time; the mindset held during this period however is shown to be completely different compared to now.
Due to fear of being blacklisted, Eisenhower, the proceeding president, was reluctant to confront McCarthy. The Red Scare of the 1950s was thriving and the presidents waged war against foreign Communist powers in order not to be accused of being sympathetic towards the opposition. They conformed to public opinion and shaped politics in America into a Cold War.
The Red Scare took place in the late 1940’s and early 50’s during the Cold War and was an event that occurred in the U.S. The Red Scare was the episode of Americans being afraid of the spread of communism which led America to take desperate actions to stop it from spreading such as McCarthyism. One of the many things America did was make it mandatory for federal employees to be analyzed to tell if they were a communist. Another was the HUAC (House of Un-American Activities Committee)
The Red Scare represented the widespread concern that Americans had developed over the fear of communist subversion within society. Americans believed, especially during the Cold War, which was a period of tension between the United States and Soviet Union, that communism was attempting to infiltrate every aspect of their lives. While this is not necessarily the best analogy, you can relate the widespread fear of communism during the Cold War as being similar to the heightened alert Americans had toward terrorism and suspected terrorists during the beginning of the modern century.
The Red Scare is the rounding up and deportation of several hundred immigrates of radical political views by the federal government in 1919 and 1920. Certain causes that led up to this event was the fact that the United States feared the fact that certain immigrants embraced communist, socialist, and anarchist ideology. The Red Scare later led to the impact of the fear of communism. Today this event is remembered all over the world for is impact that it made on every person society.
During the time of the Red Scare lives were destroyed from all of accusations made. The people that were wrongfully accused had families and then got destroyed reputations. From the Cold War Museum it stated that “the nation grew to realize that McCarthy was evil and unmatched in malice.” once they found that McCarthy was not to be trusted, everyone knew that the people McCarthy told were communist were not
In the 1950’s, Senator Joseph McCarthy turned Americans against each other by installing fear in the people regarding toward Communism. During this time, in fact, people were getting blacklisted even if they weren't communist. In an incident at the Republican Women’s Club of Wheeling, McCarthy delivered a speech. The situation involving the Senator escalated when he stated that the State Department is infested with Communist. In this point in time, due to the false allegations, people went on a decade long period of witch hunts. Sam Roberts, the author of “A Decade of Fear” stated that in fact, “...thousands of alleged Communists in the U.S. were arrested and deported during what became known as the Red Scare.”
The Red Scare, also known as, McCarthyism started in the early 1950’s. It got the name McCarthyism from Senator Joseph Raymond McCarthy. McCarthy started The Red Scare. It was very similar to a witch hunt but, it wasn’t witches they were hunting for. They were searching for communist. The Red Scare was a horrible and cruel period during the early 1900’s.
Further events, such as McCarthyism and Senator McCarthy’s false accusations led to the further growth of the Red Scare. The Red Scare led to hysteria amongst U.S. citizens, common Americans went to the extreme to build shelters in case of warfare. (Doc C). As lifestyles of Americans were threatened, it was justifiable of U.S. citizens to find ways to protect themselves. While the Second Red Scare went to an extreme, Eisenhower’s administration helped diminish the fright American citizens felt.
As World War I was heading towards its end Russia was focusing on internal issues. Led by Vladimir Lenin the Bolsheviks embarked on a campaign against the war. Using propaganda which focused on trying to turn the allied troops against their officers Lenin looked to inspire a socialist revolution. The Bolsheviks were also fueled by the poor conditions of the Russian Army. Nicholas II, in a letter to his wife Alexandra, admitted the obstacles that the Russian Army faced, "Again that cursed question of shortage of artillery and rifle ammunition - it stands in the way of an energetic advance." Czar Nicholas tried to deny the fact that his Army was in no condition to continue the fight. Lenin and the Bolsheviks used this information to gain
The Second Red Scare was a period of heightened fears of the Soviet Union and the political ideology of Communism. The paranoia and hysteria inherent to this period led to discrimination of Communists. Joseph McCarthy was a main player in this Red Scare, which was sometimes called the “Witch-Hunts in Washington.” He was a Wisconsin senator who made claims against those whom he suspected of being Communists or Communist sympathizers.