Lavender Scare Research Paper

The Red scare was a series of witch hunts for suspected communist sympathetic members of congress and public office holding Citizens who were supposedly “Red” this lasted from (1919-1920) started by the Bolshevik revolution in Russia. During the first war the Red Scared was represented the widespread concern that Americans had developed over the fear of communist subversion within society. The American people went into a mass hysteric frenzy over the news and many

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.”

The pervasive Red Scare of the 1950s, which peaked just before mid- decade, legitimated the sanitizing of the nation's political culture, not only through prosecuting and persecuting anyone or anything smacking of communism, but also manipulating a whole range of suspect people, ideas, and artifacts. Purifying society of corrupting influences became a permissible activity, upheld by the religious, political, economic, legal, and cultural establishment. Everyone was vulnerable, but particularly the impressionable young, whose naiveté and search for excitement could easily lead to moral corruption or

The United States endured the Red Scare From the 1945 to sometime around the 1952 which mainly focus on the hunt for communist. Many thought that the war was finally over but an parallel attack was coming that would separate and turn people against one another. In many ways this paranoid resembles to the Salem Witch Trial in the 17th century which inventively caused tension between various majority. The Salem witch trials people were accused of being witches similar to the same way that Americans were uneased about communism

The Red Scare, also known as McCarthyism, took place during the 1950’s when Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy was elected during a time of fear as the Cold War’s lasting effects wore on the people of America. McCarthy could twist the anger and fear of the American citizens to produce a new social phenomenon, Communism invading our politics. McCarthy was elected as the Senator in 1946 and became a household name four years later in 1950 when he claimed 205 communists infiltrated the State Department. McCarthy’s vigorous investigation for communists in the political society made him an incredibly influential political figure. Two years later in 1952, he obtained the chairmanship for the Government Operations Party while also being reelected. McCarthy began questioning

The 1950's were viewed as a decade of prosperity for many Americans. For lesbians and gay men, it was both a time of great fear and immeasurable courage (“Coming Out in America”). During the fifties, being different in America was seen as a crime to many Americans especially to an individual named Senator McCarthy. Senator McCarthy was a Republican senator from Wisconsin during the late forties and fifties. He is known best for being the leader of what are called Red Scare and the Lavender Scare. The Red Scare was the fear of the emergence of Communism in America during the Cold War. Not only did Senator McCarthy accuse people of being communist throughout the decade, but also accused some of being homosexuals as well. The discrimination of homosexuals during the forties and fifties is referred to as the Lavender Scare. Because of the spread of Communism and the societal views on homosexuality during the fifties, many Americans thought of this as the era of great conflict and fear.

Born into a strong religious household, Eisenhower believed that “sex offenders” and homosexuals posed a national security risk; therefore, they should not be allowed employment into any Government positions. Eisenhower’s administration claimed that because of their sexual orientation, homosexuals were more susceptible to blackmail by a communist enemy. Because of that, on April of 1953, Eisenhower issued Executive Order 10450 which revoked President Truman’s 1947 Executive Order 9835. In this new order, Eisenhower charged the heads of all federal agencies, with the assistance of the FBI, with investigating all federal employees to discover if they posed security risks. Also

The Red Scare of the fifties was a very controversial time in American history. The

The government, knowing very little about people and hardly any evidence would take anyone they thought was suspicious of anything odd for questioning and if they were suspected of homosexuality they would be fired right away. The government thought people who were gay were disloyal to the United States and made it so gay and lesbian people were without jobs in the state departments, which later started the Gay Rights Movement and till this day is still a very controversial topic. Not so much within employment in government jobs but more of people not being able to love and marry the people they please. Any person who was thought to be gay or lesbian were perceived as a security risk because they were thought of as disloyal to the United States and were discriminated against. People had a hard time distinguishing between political disloyalty and security risk.

Instigating this fear was Joseph McCarthy. McCarthy was a Republican senator from Wisconsin and was the leader behind the ethos of McCarthyism. The term was created

The federal government’s action during the Red and Lavender Scares following World War II would promote the hero-heroine relationship with a large portion of the American people. Joseph McCarthy, the figure head of these two scares, crystalized on the anxieties of the public that communism posed a threat to their freedom and democracy when he boldly declared in 1950 that the State Department was infested with communists. He then spearheaded the Internal Security Act (ITA) which would require member of communist organizations to register with the government and eventually made it illegal to even affiliate with any communist organization (Lecture). In addition, McCarthy connected this fear of communism to the gay community by stating that “homosexuality…was the phycological maladjustment that led people toward communism” Johnson 192). As a way to keep homosexuals, communists, or a mix of the two from “threatening” American freedoms, the federal government used acts such as the ITA and Truman era bans on homosexuals working in the government to ease the fears of the American people (Lecture). By using these tactics, the federal government asserted themselves in the lives of Americans, namely those who differentiated from societal norms, and forced them into submission or silence for fear that they would be punished. This act of

Another one of the major things that happened in the 1950s was the Red Scare. What that means is that people were scared that communists would rise against them. Many of the people were very affected and according to The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History:“Hundreds of screenwriters, actors, and directors were blacklisted because of their alleged political beliefs, while teachers, steelworkers, sailors, lawyers, and social workers lost their jobs for similar reasons.More than thirty-nine states required teachers and other public employees to take loyalty oaths” (Anti-Communism).

Vivian Gonzalez Mr. Martinez-Ramos A.P. United States History May 3, 2000 McCarthyism was one of the saddest events of American history. It destroyed people’s lives and shattered many families. It threw innocent people into a whirlwind of mass confusion and fictional portrayals of their lives. McCarthyism spawned for the country’s new found terror of Communism known as the red scare. McCarthyism was an extreme version of the red scare, a scare whose ends did not justify the means. The Red Scare happened twice in the history of this great country. When the communist took over Russia in 1919, the American people were unnerved. They were afraid of a communist take over in the states. When the First World War ended in 1918, there was still

The background of homosexuality in the 1940’s and 50’s was harsh, but people started to be opened toward the rights. There were criticisms toward homosexuality in the early days of Milk. Gay men carried the labels of mentally ill or

Life for most homosexuals during the first half of the Twentieth century was one of hiding, being ever so careful to not give away their true feelings and predilections. Although the 1920s saw a brief moment of openness in American society, that was quickly destroyed with the progress of the Cold War, and by default, that of McCarthyism. The homosexuals of the 50s “felt the heavy weight of medical prejudice, police harassment and church condemnation … [and] were not able to challenge these authorities.” They were constantly battered, both physically and emotionally, by the society that surrounded them. The very mention or rumor of one’s homosexuality could lead to the loss of their family, their livelihood and, in some cases, their