Communism And The Soviet Union

Senator Joe McCarthy of Wisconsin was the person that was partially responsible for the fear instilled in American citizens thinking that communists lived among them. McCarthy appeared on television making countless accusations of many people ranging from politicians to actors. He made it a point to tell the citizens that the United States government was not properly dealing with communism. Although all these accusation were made, McCarthy was never able to adequately back up these claims. Aside from McCarthyism, which is now a term used for “unsubstantiated accusations,” the US Government set up a committee called the House Un- American Activities Committee (HUAC) to do investigations. One major case was the case against Alger Hiss. He was an American government official who was accused an tried for espionage and served a 5 year sentence. The creation of committees specifically dedicated to finding those that may be communist spies in the United States shows exactly how far the paranoia in our country went. McCarthy never had a single piece of evidence to expose the people he wrongfully accused but people were quick to jump and agree with him out of their own fear. McCarthy was able to convince thousands that what he was saying was true because of the status of his targets which made it more believable. Just because of all the mass hysteria that was happening overseas involving

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.

Senator Joseph McCarthy is notorious for his speech where he claimed to have a list of two hundred five communists. He became partially responsible for the communist witch hunts, which cost many people their jobs and their reputations. In his speech “Enemies From Within,” he uses metaphors and appeals to ethos and pathos in order to convince his audience that communism is a major threat to the US, and many powerful people are communist. The United States and USSR were allies during World War II, and only after the war did tensions arise. McCarthy uses metaphors to explain why communism was not treated as such a threat until after the war. He states that the apathy towards communism was due to an “emotional hangover” caused by the war, and “this

Hundreds of years later, the United States entered the time of the “Red Scare”. In this time, Americans were still very apprehensive of Communists. On April 22, 1954, Army hearings began. Senator Joseph McCarthy accused the United States Army of being too “soft” on communism. This really began in 1950, however, when McCarthy claimed that there were over 200 known communists in the Department of State (“Army-McCarthy” History.com). As Abigail did with the Witch trials, McCarthy began accusing innocents of crime to benefit his own personal agenda.

America felt like communism was already infiltrating their country as it was stated that there are communists working inside of the American government. This is shown in document B as it states that their is a list of communist party members “who nevertheless are still working and shaping policy of the State Department” (B). This speech was said right at the height of the Red Scare which raised the fear of the average American dramatically. This paranoia of communism was shown again with the Hollywood 10 who were convicted of being Communist and could never find work using their real name again. After the events of the Red Scare had happened America focused its efforts on not allowing communism to spread at all costs. This was shown in Guatemala when America overthrew the old government and stated that “The domination or control of the political institutions of any American State by the international Communist movement…would constitute a threat to the sovereignty and political independence of the American States”(F). This shows what America thought about the dangers of Communism as they felt if any territory that was involved with the United States falling to Communism is a direct threat to

Joe McCarthy enjoyed a short reign in the spotlight of American politics in the early 1950s. His tactics, the baseless accusations of Communist ties, would come to be called McCarthyism and they set the tone of the American crusade against the ‘threat’ of Communism for years to come. The era in which the heavily anti-Communist McCarthyism reigned in America was one marked by fear, suspicion, and tightly geld ideals. Many found themselves under fire from the political witch hunts and more than one life was destroyed by the accusations brought upon it. The illegalization of the Communist movement and the misfortune that a Communist branding would cause were all unfortunate products of a fallacy filled mindset what stripped Americans of their

One of the main people who were in attack against communism was Senator Joseph McCarthy. Joseph McCarthy was determined to remove any thought of communists being a part of the United States. He used gossip to get information from many people that were in a stance of holding a political office. He often had little evidence when he accused thought to be communist people that could have been working for the Soviet Union just as the invalid statistics that Donald Trump states. He ruined many people's careers and lives before other leaders in the Congress put an end to his ways.

The United State’s Capitalistic and consumer driven way of life sat in contrast to the Soviet Union’s Communist and government centred economy. So much so, that the fear of Communists living in America began a panic known as the second Red Scare. Americans attempted to weed out Communists, with programs like the loyalty program which required government workers to state if they have ever been a communist; as well as the Congress of Industrial Organization (CIO). “...[The] (CIO) and United Auto Workers froze Communists out of leadership positions...” (Goldfield 805), along with this there were numerous trails and people assured of being a Communist. McCarthyism was another main reason the American public began exiling those assured of Communists; McCarthyism created a fear of these people, which allowed those accused to be black balled in their professions. One such example where the Hollywood Ten, which was a group of movie directors accused of being too soft on Communism.

The first red scare took place during ww1, after the Bolsheviks revolution in Russia during the First World War, where fear of communist reached its height. In the period after the second World War, Americans were increasingly concerned that the anti-democratic and the nature of communism would spread and even infiltrate the United States. Accordingly, one of the common tracts shared by both red scares was “Red-Baiting”, know as the practice of identifying and attempting to out or uncover suspected communist within the United States government. One of the chief conduits for bringing out communist was the H.U.A.C “House Un-American Activities Committee”, although it had first been formed in 1938, it reached its insidious purpose in the 1950s. Southern politicians often branded political arguments with whom they disagreed as communist. The second red scare perhaps took its greatest toll on artists, like Arthur Miller, who was unable to work because of being branded as a suspected

During the 1940s, 50s, and so on were times that the country had to be in unity and conformity, without that, we wouldn’t be able to surpass the challenges that we faced with situations like WWII. Of course there will always be a difference in the way two different social classes think, this pertaining to older and the younger generation, but they always adapt and conform to their environments and its trends. With the horrors of communism still fresh in the minds of Americans, we were eager to show that the best way of life that existed was the American way of life. The anti-communist movement seemed to have started with Republican senator McCarthy who was largely anti-communistic.

American anticommunism stems from a history of fear, and want of control over individuals, and groups of people who are defined as “others”. In this case “others”, is a term attributed to American citizens who were a part of, or held any relation or affiliation with the American Communist Party. Before them, it was immigrants; and before them it was African Americans, and Native Americans (Schrecker, 13). This fear and want of control over the American Communist Party, which immediately started after WWI in America, during the Red Scare of 1919-20; was used by the Republican and Democratic Parties, and their constituents, to gain and hold support in the United States government, and to attempt to shape American domestic and foreign policy

One main contributor of the paranoia regarding communism would have to be Senator Joseph McCarthy. Being a senator of a state obtains a position of power and having power also means influencing others especially with what you say and do. In his speech, delivered on February 9, 1950, McCarthy states, “I have in my hand 205 cases of individuals who would appear to be either card carrying members or certainly loyal to the Communist Party” (Joseph). He establishes credibility because he is a senator, but his accusations towards others of any association/affiliation to communism with no solid evidence to support his claim led to people questioning who could be trusted and who could not. In addition, McCarthy was known to have to no proof and exaggerates his points especially targeting those who worked for the government of exposing confidential information, those he called a “communist sympathizer.”

After situations with the working class and trying their best to find a means to agree in the US fear of their capitalistic government brought a red flag. The world was on the doorsteps of another World War and with the countries like Germany and Russia being the biggest threat and being countries under the leadership of Communism was enough to put the US on red alert. The media played a major role in the rising fear and hatred for anyone who was a member of the Communist party or anyone they believed could be a member. Erecting large amounts of propaganda in the name of getting the American people behind the idea of abolishing Communism and doing their best to keep it out of their country. Anyone who was suspicious of another person being a member or even a spy for a Communist country was reported to their local police department and they were either detained by the police or if enough evidence was brought up even the FBI was involved in forcibly removing there people from the

Unprecedented global war and political confrontation between capitalism and communism turned the twentieth century into one that altered progress of mankind communities. Comparing to communism, fascism, a form of radical authoritarian nationalism, had more influence than communism in the twentieth century, because it has changed political systems in several countries, caused World War II, and reshaped international relationship.

As early as the late nineteen teens, and more notably in a post World War II world, Americans have known to fear communism. What exactly they should fear was not exactly made entirely clear to U.S. citizens, but instilled in them was a fear of the looming red giant. While communism was certainly existent, the way it was perceived in the United States was not necessarily the real thing, but an imagined version of it. When one referred to it, the majority of the time specific people were not named, instead simply the term communism was referenced. Similar to Jane Addams’ writing on the perpetuation of the stories of the “Devil Baby”, communism was augmented into more something different than what it actually was to further political agendas, it offered some subconscious healing value, and it was only transmuted by itself.