In the article, Have You No Sense of Decency? The main focus of the article is explaining the hearings and what Joseph Welch did to take a stand against senator McCarthy. It also talks about Joseph Welch’s famous quote, “Have you no sense of decency?” The article summarizes the hearings and explains how Senator Joseph McCarthy accused hundreds of people of being communists. Republican senators stopped attending the hearings because McCarthy hired staff without consulting with others. When McCarthy got into a fight with the U.S. Army, he temporarily stepped down as chairman for the period of the three-month televised display known as the Army-McCarthy hearings. The army hired lawyer Joseph Welch to make its case. At a session, Welch responded to McCarthy with a line that ended McCarthy’s career. Welch furiously responded with his famous quote, “Have you no sense of decency?” Overall, this article was very informative about what Joseph Welch did and how he went against McCarthy.
This source was helpful because it gave an overview to the whole situation and
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McCarthy: A Smear Undone, there is a lot of information about Welch and also about McCarthy and what he had in mind when the army hearings were happening. It also mentions how McCarthy rose to a high position in the senate. It said that “He became one of the most powerful and feared men in Washington as the hunt for Communists in government and the media consumed the country.” This shows that many people were scared of him and Welch had a lot of courage to be someone to have a voice against him. The article also uses the word “undone” to describe the last army hearing. They used this word because it demonstrates how McCarthy’s career came down to that one moment that Welch said the quote. Lastly, the article mentioned the date that this conference happened. It says that the day was June 9, 1954. The article went in depth of the event and the people involved with
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.
Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, communism was a major threat to the United States. Joseph McCarthy, a senator at the time, attempted to capitalize on this by accusing over two hundred men and women of sneaking communism into the United States government or for supporting the cause.* Among these two hundred men and women were several authors, including Arthur Miller. In explaining his reasoning for writing The Crucible, Miller said, ". . . my basic need was to respond to a phenomenon which, with only small exaggeration, one could say was paralyzing a whole generation and in an amazingly short time was drying up the habits of trust and toleration in public discourse."* After visiting Salem and researching the events of the Salem Witch Trials, Miller realized how the havoc of these events corresponded to the events in the 1940s and 1950s.*
After WW2 on february 9, 1950 Joseph McCarthy gave a speech “Enemies from Within” when communism was the biggest threat to the whole world. Joseph McCarthy was a Republican Senate who got famous after his speech. He claimed that there were people in U.S. government who are a member of communist society and also mentioned in his speech that he have a list 57 people. In the speech Joseph McCarthy is appealing to the Republicans and christians, trying to influence them to take action and fight against communism. He uses people's emotional fear to turn them against each other. In his speech he uses allusion, metaphor, and rhetorical appeals.
The Movie “good night good luck” is incredibly historically accurate. The Movie uses authentic clips that show McCarthy and many speeches Murrow used. World War ended in 1945 leaving a broken Europe and a communist block behind. The United States quickly receded back to the red scare that had existed before WWII. The United States quickly set an anti-communist stance and prepared for a war against the communists. While the war never came some enterprising individuals placed themselves in powerful positions using the paranoia created. Among these individuals one came forward and began one of the most controversial historical programs. Joe McCarthy a nobody Wisconsin’s junior senator made his name when he gave a speech claiming his
“Miller also observes the tremendous forces that mere accusation had at this time, something that was evident as well in the McCarthy witch-hunts. A man’s career could be ruined if he were merely asked, “Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist party?””
At the end of the 1940’s and the beginning of the 1950’s, the United States were in the midst of the Second Red Scare and a fear that Communism might over throw the American way of life. Cold War tensions were at an all time high, which only fueled the widespread fears of Communist subversion. It was here that Senator Joseph McCarthy became a public face when he began making claims that the U.S. Government, as well as many other areas of the country, including the entertainment industry, had been invaded by Soviet and Communist spies, looking to destroy America from within. Hearings before the House Un-American Activities Committee, Hollywood Blacklisting, and anti-communist activity from the FBI soon followed. McCarthy was under intense analysis
In the 1950’s there was a scare of communism and people were being accused of being communist. From the article “McCarthyism: Witch Hunting and Blacklisting in the 1950s” “McCarthy's claims continued into 1954, this time targeting the Army. For eight weeks, in front of millions of television viewers, McCarthy questioned Army officials, including many war heroes.” Many people were getting questioned about being communist even though there wasn’t any real proof. McCarthy had questioned a lot of people including two people that had been Secretary of State. He had made a list of questionable claims, he didn't have any real proof but the Senate called for a full investigation. In the article “Famous Speeches: Joseph McCarthy's “Enemies from Within”, “This is glaringly true in the State Department, where those who were born with every possible advantage are the ones who have been most traitorous.” He is saying that the people with the most opportunities and that the country has been good too have been traitors. There is no actual evidence to this statement. He is picking out a group of people and using them. Because of his experience in the Red Scare he was able to write “The Crucible”.
Although prosperity filled the 50s, controversy and dissatisfaction surrounded it also. As the picture "Senator McCarthy Extinguishes the Torch of Liberty" conveys, McCarthyism hushed the freedom of speech. (Kennedy, Cohen, and Bailey A127)The man who gave McCarthyism a name, Joseph McCarthy, ruined many lives by accusing tons of Americas of being Communists for about 5 years. The post-cold war paranoia about spies and infiltrates in the American government escalated the allegations to a whole other level, despite the lack of evidence. Many people lost their jobs, went to jail, or became shunned by the public. Senator McCarthy conducted countless numbers of speeches, investigations, and hearings. His actions proved to be so terrifying that very few spoke out against him. Only when taking the claims to the military did the people finally take a stand. Weeks afterward, the Senate condemned McCarthy for “practicing conduct unfit for a member.”
This is where McCarthy starts the real setup for his bombshell. He is quoted, "When a great democracy is destroyed, it will not be because of enemies from without, but rather because of enemies from within." (Chafe 50). He then says that these traitors are not the minority of this country but are of the wealthiest of this country, and have the finest jobs in the Government. So he is telling these people that it is not them, but those rich people in the government who are selling out this country. This is where he drops the bomb. McCarthy insinuates that one of the most important government agencies, the State Department "is infested with Communists" (Chafe 50). He then says that he had a list of 57 people he believed to be "either card carrying members or certainly loyal to the Communist Party" (Chafe 50). The truth is there was no list, no names, it was just
During the time of the “Red Scare” McCarthy stated that he “loved to manipulate people,” (Oakley 207). He was able to “swagger” in the meeting and he knew that he could stir up “turmoil and confusion” at a moment’s notice. Once
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.
The McCarthy hearings have been trials in which Senator Joe McCarthy accused authority’s personnel of being Communists. He exaggerated and exploited the proof and ruined many reputations. Blacklists have been created and lots of employers refused to rent the suspected or accused. (If they did then they could be accused.) Because of the exaggerated evidence and the seriousness of the charges, the hearings struck fear in many people. Even though at the start famous, the public began to surprise how some distance it would pass. After McCarthy accused the U.S. navy of housing Communists, his committee started to head downhill.
Through the 1940s and 1950s, America was beleaguered with anxieties about the menace of communism arising in Eastern Europe and China. Profiting out of such worries of the nation, young Senator Joseph McCarthy made an open charge that hundreds of "card-carrying" communists had penetrate in the United States government. Although his allegations were found ultimately to be false and the Senate reproached him for improper ways, his ardent shakeup heralded as one of the most tyrannical era in 20th-century American politics. While the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAA) had been made in 1938 as a body to resist communists, McCarthy's charges enhanced the political nervousness of the epoch. The suspicious chase for moles,
His accusations generated national interest and gained him a significant amount of fame, or rather, infamy. However, it was later found out that the piece of paper he’d been holding during that speech had merely been his laundry receipt (Bates). Even so, McCarthy was already well on his way to becoming one of the most notable communist “hunters” in U.S. history.
Joseph McCarthy, the notorious US senator who causes the McCarthyism era in the 1940s to the 1960s to arise, deceives the American people to lose trust with each other because of suspicion of Communism. McCarthy does not have a really great reputation before following the route of corruption. He simply over exaggerates the growing tension of Communism credits from President Harry Truman’s speech. His reign continues to grow until, “In early 1954 he opened hearings investigating the promotion of an Army dentist, Irving Peress, who was suspected of being a Communist. The Army-McCarthy hearings were televised and made for grand theater as McCarthy sparred with the Army's counsel Joseph Welch” (Capps). Joseph McCarthy is an arrogant and an overconfident man who thinks he can win every court cases until the very end. He believes that whatever