Good Night, and Good Luck Movie Review

Even though he may seem outspoken in his approach, Murrow proves a valid point as he reveals the error in McCarthy’s thinking as he falsely accuses Radulovich of being a Communist. Due to lack of solid evidence, McCarthy has no stance while accusing Radulovich. Though his sister’s political leanings suggest Communism, Radulovich can only speak for himself and not his sister. (Clooney) Labeling Radulovich a communist, solely based on his family’s alliances is synonymous with claiming that Murrow is a Communist due to his membership in a leftist union. It seems like McCarthy is on a “witch-hunt” of sorts, out to call out anyone who goes against the government or spoke ill of government practices. McCarthy orders the interrogation of Pentagon communication worker Annie Lee Moss, solely based on her name appearing on a blacklist.

In 1950 the emergence of the Second Red Scare’s driving force, Senator Joseph McCarthy, appeared and gave a speech proclaiming that America will soon be lost to communism if the people do not stand up to combat it. He revealed that night a list of 205 people working for Soviet Russia in the United States’ State Department whose intentions were to mold America from the inside to become a socialist nation. (Fitzgerald, p. 14) It was thanks to this newfound hysteria that began to break out thanks to McCarthy’s claims that the HUAC and other like-minded organizations began to gain momentum during this time period.

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

1. What are the main themes, politically and socially, that are portrayed in the film?

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.”

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.

Beginning in the early 1950s, Senator Joseph McCarthy released a monumental rampage across the United States. For fear of governmental infiltration by Communists, an outbreak of accusations swept the nation as a result of the Wisconsin senator, and helped create what is known as the second Red Scare (“McCarthyism”)

The fear of communism in America held a significant presence during and after World War II. The establishment of The House of Un-American Activities Committees in the late 1940’s was a result of this fear. The committee investigated communist influence in Hollywood and accused ten writers and directors of communism and were then subjected to a year in jail and were blacklisted. Then in the early 1950’s, Senator of Wisconsin, Joseph McCarthy established a public view of McCarthyism. McCarthy claimed he knew of many government employees working for the Communist Party. Joseph McCarthy’s speech “Enemies Within” launched anticommunism hearings in the Senate sub-committee. McCarthy accused many of communist activity and all he accused would be convicted unless they gave names of other “communists”. He even accused decorated World War II hero’s, which would eventually be the downfall of his McCarthyism point of view. The United Sates also had a constant fear of nuclear bombs, which was a powerful weapon that became popular amongst many world powers; especially the Soviets after they exploded their first atomic bomb in 1949. Communism in America was a taboo

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

Joseph McCarthy is a desperate and unlikeable U.S senator who uses fear against others, which leads to the use of the horrific use of McCarthyism. Mccarthy is not a supporter of communists, “Thus he spread terror among his peers. His Republican colleagues were torn between fear of his prowess and willingness to use his attacks on President Harry Truman” (“Joseph”). McCarthy claims that people working within the U.S government are communists and that they should be exposed. Mccarthy blames others so people see him as a hero for saving the country from communist. His desperateness causes him to accuse his peers of being communists. For that reason people do not want to be around him because of the “terror” he causes and “spreads”. Mccarthy wants to do everything to address the problem of communism. Therefore, to prove that there is a problem going on, “McCarthy claimed to have in hand a list of 205 people in the U.S. State Department

2) What are some of the themes that are central to the film? How have they been communicated?

McCarthy’s anti-communist propaganda achieved the opposite of its goals. Rather than strengthening democracy, it weakened democracy; rather than promoting the freedom of speech of which the United States was founded, it limited freedom of speech so greatly individuals were afraid to speak out; and rather than creating a sense of peace and security in the country, it created complete and utter chaos and anarchy. The Red Scare, created by Joseph McCarthy, threatened the rights every American citizen and damaged the names, lives, and reputations of many, many innocent

Also during this time from the late 1940s to the late 1950s began McCarthyism and the scare of Communism being the United States. Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin would be pushed into the public spotlight by the issue of anti-Communism. It was discovered later that the FBI had helped give McCarthy the information to help him start his campaign against Communism. For several years, McCarthy operated to seek out and destroy the lives of people whom he or others had declared as being a Communist. Lytle mentions that McCarthy charged that Communists had penetrated the United States by becoming involved in churches, the army, the CIA, and the hydrogen bomb program. Even after McCarthy’s eventual political death, McCarthyism still went on and took longer to fade away. McCarthyism was the lasting legacy of McCarthy that put the nation in a frenzy. It was characterized by false accusations of neighbors, family members, and friends and being part of the Communist party. These accusations meant that these peoples’ lives were over. They had no more authority, respect, or even career opportunities after being accused, albeit falsely.

The purpose of this investigation is to examine the question “To what extent did Joseph McCarthy and his anti- communist tactics have an impact on United States society?” I will cover how things in the society has changed. McCarthyism also affected domestic and foreign policies, but I am going to focus on American society. I will focus mainly the years around the McCarthy era which is 1950 through 1954. To help examine my topic, I will be using two books. The books are “Defining moments: McCarthyism and the Communist Threat” and “Joe McCarthy and McCarthyism: The hate that haunts America” The two sources will be valuable because they give a deep understanding of what happened during the years 1950 through 1954. This books is one of Omnigraphics “Defining Moments” books. Kevin Hillstrom, the author, has written many other books, including books about history. This also shows this source is valuable because Omnigraphics has a lot of other Defining Moment books that are about history.

Joseph P. McCarthy, a Republican senator from Wisconsin, spent the majority of his political career trying to expose a communist infiltration of the government. His allegations against certain politicians and authority were found to be supported with an absence of evidence, but the public did not cease to be intimidated and often manipulated in this realm of insecurity. In 1950, the McCarran Internal Security Act was passed by Congress against President Harry S. Truman’s wishes, requiring all organizations presented as communist affiliated, to submit to government supervision. McCarthy translated the paranoia ever present in America’s media and livelihood, into a nationalized hunt for communist and force for political control. America faced