Anti-Communism in the United States was a widespread political and cultural phenomenon during the Cold War which reached nearly all areas of American life. It was embraced to differing degrees by both the Left and Right, spreading into churches, schools, entertainment, and even gaining influence in the Civil Rights movement. There were many different opinions over how much of a danger communism was. Was it merely an external threat from the Soviet Union, or did it also come from the communists in America, working from within their very midst? If the U.S. was under threat from internal communists, then how widespread was this enemy and how should the issue be addressed? These were the issues that divided America and among these divisions extremes …show more content…
Mulloy’s 2014 book The World of The John Birch Society. Mulloy agrees with Nash about the importance of the 1964 election to the society, believing that they reached the height of their influence in that campaign. He portrays the Society as being more politically powerful than Nash, and that by Nixon denouncing them during his 1962 gubernatorial campaign in California, he alienated many influential grass roots conservatives, which was part of the reason for his loss. Mulloy makes it seem as if Goldwater could have denounced the Society and distanced himself from “extremist” elements of the party, but partially because of their power and influence at the time, he was afraid of losing their support. Mulloy believes that the society “played an essential role in the revitalization of conservatism,” and agrees with Nash they were pushed from the political mainstream by people like Buckley, however unlike Nash, he also believes that they still held considerable influence on the political fringe and that many of their ideas still reflected those of many Americans even after 1964. Even without mainstream support, Mulloy shows that they still provided a vocal minority in the resistance to communism and the radical New Left of the era. Mulloy sees the John Birch Society as going through a slow decline after Goldwater’s defeat and that into 1967 and 1968 especially, they lost much of their appeal by continually becoming more and more conspiratorial, eventually even embracing the long paranoid tradition of the Illuminati
The fear of communism impacted the United States before and after WWII through the first and second Red Scare, McCarthyism, and paranoia.
Many Americans viewed communism as an alien technology. (Wall 1) During the 1930s, Anti-Communism was rooted more directly in political cultural. (Wall 1) Joseph Stalin allowed Communist around the globe to ally with Liberals and Non-Communist Leftists. (Wall 1)
In the war, the U.S. and the Soviets fought as allies, but after the war, their alliance fractured due to the conflicting ideologies of government. This controversy brought up an old phenomenon of anticommunism. Americans feared communism was seeping into the U.S. government and arguments were brought up that communist sympathizers posed a threat for national security. This fear lead U.S. senator Joseph McCarthy to start a crusade to find and expose American communists, later these tactics came to be known as McCarthyism. His campaign lasted from 1950 to 1954 and it became one of the most controversial movements in U.S. history (Ventura).
Americans feared Communism would propagate during the Cold War, although Ike addressed these fears during a press conference, he merely fueled their fear claiming, “Makes us act almost hysterically, and you will find hysterical reactions” (doc. A). Three months later, Ike’s Secretary of State confronts Americans fears by claiming if Communism were to capture America, a new front has been established in order to “increase danger to the entire free
In America’s early years, there have been multiple controversial situations that divided American citizens. Two issues that is related to that is the ratification/approval of the Constitution and the Louisiana Purchase. Even though these two issues were in different historical circumstances, both had people who were in favor of the situation and those who aren’t in favor. An issue in American’s history that caused a division in the American people was the ratification of the Constitution.
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
During the Cold War communist began to emerge. Communist are people who follow or believe in communism. They were such a small group that no one paid much attention to them until after World War 2. When WW II ended communist started causing problems. They already took power in other countries and Americans began to fear they would do the same to the U.S. They wondered if Soviet Spies were in America secretly advertising communism. U.S. citizens even questioned if communist were involved in U.S. government jobs or in schools miseducating students and children. To help calm down these fears Joseph Raymond McCarthy started McCarthyism. (Shmoop.com)
Hmm...did communism pose a threat to america? Let me begin by telling you about communism.
Of the factors which shaped American society in the Cold War era, the fear of communism and its potential to spread imposed the greatest effect upon the United States. From the worldwide devastation of World War II arose two powers: United States of America, fueled by a capitalist economy, and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, or USSR, whose economy embodied the communist ideals of Karl Marx. Marx himself stated, “Communism is already acknowledged by all...powers to be in itself a power”. Marx predicted the power of a communistic society well before the first World War began. In the wake of the devastation
The McCarthyism era was one of the darkest moments. The U.S. felt they needed to take the next action which was not agreeing to prove the threat, disagreeing with it, but the Vienna transcript and also the Rosenberg file had so much evidence. The communism fear was that the United States would manifested political anxiety. Many examples were the red scare and also the cold war, these effects were the communism being afraid of the cold war and the red scare in which McCarthyism tried to stop it. All these things led up to how communism posed a major threat towards them.
Did communism pose a domestic threat to America? Why or why not? Yes, communism posed a threat to America. First you would need to know what communism really is and how socialism ties in with it (know your enemy). How they operate and what their goals are. One of the goals of the communist movement, was the destruction of capitalism.
Communism played a major role shaping the 20th century, both for the East and the United States. Its impact can be seen in the US from 1919 to the 1990s and even today. The spread of Communist ideals in the East meant the beginning of the socialist state and mass industrialization. Its effect on the US was much different. The United States people, heavily diversified of all races, religions, and financial statuses, became extremely jingoistic as a result of competition with the USSR. This nationalism became unhealthy as citizens began determining what was “un-American.” The Communist Party USA was not successful in their primary objective of spreading communism to the US. What they did achieve however was hugely important. They showed that citizens of the United States could be scared out of their own freedom. That fear would lead them to give up “liberty and justice for all”. Still a highly misunderstood idea, it is important for citizens of the United States to understand what communism is and what impact the CPUSA and other communist organizations had on the country.
Post World War 1 there was a manifestation of Communist influence in the United States. The influence began forming itself in 1919. There was a division within the country between those who followed the beliefs of Communism and those who were against it. However the majority of Americans were against Communism and the spread of it. In J.Edgar Hoover’s testimony before the HUAC,
Communism is the antithesis of the American society. Americans felt that action was required to prevent communism from entering the U.S. Americans voted for lawmakers that would fulfill the needs to prevent the spread of communism from entering the U.S. This concept was evident in laws such as the Communist-Control act, the introduction of the school course titled Americanism vs. Communism, and executive strategies were popular among U.S citizens (History.com Staff). Finally, the influence of the American ideology impacted the American political system while the U.S was at
Other factors that divide United States citizens include LGBTQ issues, views of centralized government, immigration, and gender issues. Americans are divided so politically due to their personal stances on issues. Class, race, and gender definitely plays a role in the division. People side with politicians who reflect their personal views and can implement policies that help them.