Joseph Mccarthyism Research Paper

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.

McCarthyism- McCarthy was a senator famous for the communist hysteria in the 50’s. He blamed 205 State Department workers for having ties with communists. He gained support by playing into American’s fears of the spread of communism. Though some of these people accused of not being loyal were in fact not loyal, most weren’t. His accusations were mainly built on speculation. His smear tactics became known as McCarthyism. Once he questioned the army’s loyalty that was it and he was called out by Eisenhower.

To talk about McCarthyism we must first look at what was going on in the United States at the time. WW II had just ended a few years prior, and the cold war was in full swing. Following WW II, for the US Government to be able to spend so much of the taxpayers money on the cold war, the Government had to get the US citizens behind them. To do this the US government started a propaganda campaign to scare the public into thinking the communists were bad and very dangerous people. That the communist people, their way of thinking, and their type of government had to be contained. There were several things that happened to help in-force what the government was saying. First Czechoslovakia and China fell to communism.

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”)

Senator Joseph McCarthy fed the increasing panic, using unfounded rumors and intimidation to gain popularity as a potent government figure. With this newfound fame and influence, McCarthy denounced numerous public figures as being communist supporters. His victims included government officials, celebrities, intellectuals, and anyone else opposed to his view point. Most people accused by McCarthy were innocent, but many lost their reputation, and often their employment. People later came to realize that his accusations were false and McCarthy soon after died. The term “McCarthyism” has an everlasting connection with the Red Scare and persecution of the

The Red Scare of the 1950’s as known as the McCarthyism basically refers to the fear of communism that allowed american politics, culture and society from the late 1940’s through the 1950’s, During the first stage of the cold war with the Soviet Union (Russia). Communists were referred to as “Reds” for their allegiance to the red Soviet flag. The founder of McCarthyism is Joseph McCarthy. He was a Republican senator from Wisconsin, United States. “McCarthyism” the term was created in 1950 by Herbert Block which was a writer from “Washington Post”. The investigations of McCarthyism ranged from the federal government, to Hollywood to the general american public. Literally, No one was safe because the founder of McCarthyism “Joseph McCarthy” was

From the late 1930s to late 1950s the HUAC took initial steps to find communists and spies in the United States. The House Un- Americans Activities Committee was a big part of the panic of the scare. The HUAC started investigating Hollywood for communism spies in 1947, the committee held nine hearings, after convictions the “Hollywood ten” were blacklisted. The HUAC Hollywood investigations were 1 of 50 investigations. After the HUAC’s Hollywood probe they focused on nuclear espionage, they were very successful in finding spies like Elizabeth Bentley.

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

3 – 3. Many historians feel that Harry Truman as much as Joe McCarthy gave force to the postwar “Red Scare.” Explain why you agree or disagree.“In 1950, fewer than 50,000 Americans out of a total US population of 150 million were members of the Communist Party” (Wall). Yet, in the 1940's and 1950's, an anti-Communist movement swept the country. Political leaders feared communist had infiltrated government, and some even claimed proof that confidential government documents were given away to communist countries. In response to the hysteria, Senator Joseph McCarthy helped intensify the movement and many had their lives turned inside out and ruined. Similarly, President Truman issued an executive order to flush out government employees spying for the USSR. While Senator McCarthy’s hearings as chair of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations and President Truman’s Federal Employees Loyalty Program added to

All of the incidents were similar as well by that they revolved around numerous amounts of prosecutions that were the effect of suspected association with undisclosed, treacherous groups: Witches and Communists. The only way to forestall from being condemned was to indict other people of malicious acts. It was frightening to come to think that anyone could be a communist or a witch; of course this made many people were apprehensive. People would lose control and become obsessive thinking that “the person next door” or “their best friend” could be a witch or a communist. The situation became so perceptive that you could trust no one. After the occurrences of two similar things centuries after each other, it is very believable that it can and will happen again.

Other important members of the government that joined Joseph McCarthy’s Communist manhunt was soon-to-be president Harry S. Truman and the HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee) was created (“Red Scare”). Harry S. Truman was a strong anti-Communist Republican, whom McCarthy accused of being “soft” towards the idea of Communists hidden in the government (“Blacklisting”). Truman knew McCarthy had no evidence of there being over 100,000 Americans involved in the Communist Party, but he went along with the accusations to earn a “hero” title towards the citizens in the U.S -- doing anything to further himself in the Presidential race (Littel). Although Truman wrongfully won the title of President, it was McCarthy’s doing by practicing un-American acts by publicly humiliating Truman by saying he was “soft” towards the Red Scare. McCarthy was representing traits opposite of what “Americanism” means by sabotaging Truman and falsely accusing thousands of Americans of practicing Communist

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.

During the late 1940’s and throughout the 1950’s, there was a great fear of Communism in America and abroad. The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) was created in 1938 as a means to investigate and weed out Communists and Communist supporters from American society. Its first major attack was on the Hollywood film industry. Blacklisting of Hollywood writers, actors, producers, directors and others suspected of Communist affiliations began with the committee's hearings in October of 1947, and flourished throughout the 1950s. Senator Joseph

“During the McCarthy era, most people were afraid to speak out”. (from the reader). People were afraid to say anything due to the fear that McCarthy might accuse them of communism. Government officials became cowardly during these dark times. People were so scared that they began to turn on their acquaintances. Citizens would report their own neighbors about suspicious “communist”

In characterising McCarthyism as a ‘witch hunt’, the above view invites one to consider whether the internal communist threat and persecution of such during 1940s and 50s America was justified. A ‘witch hunt’ would suggest that McCarthyism represented a random, irrational targeting of innocent people in a hysterical fashion, and was therefore an aberration, and something to be condemned. There has indeed been a historiographical consensus that McCarthyism represented an intensive attack on innocent Americans. However, in the light of recent evidence presented by John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, it appears that the majority of those persecuted were indeed communists, and many had been