Red Scare – Period of anticommunist hysteria that swept the United States after World War I
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.”
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 Red Scare. As the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the U.S Intensified in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s, hysteria over the threat of communism in the U.S became known as “The Red Scare”. Communist’s were often referred to as “Red’s” because they pledged allegiance to the red Soviet Union flag. The “Red Scare” led to a range of actions that had a big effect on the U.S Government and society. These actions included, Federal employee’s being analysed to determine whether they were loyal to the U.S Government or not. This is exactly like Arthur Miller's “The Crucible”.
His demagogue tendencies had no evidence. Document 2 is a speech made by McCarthy about communism. He says, “In less than 6 years, the odds have changed from 9 to 1 in our favor to 8 to 5 against us.” These staggering numbers of over 400 percent would certainly provoke fear among the people. He also claimed to have a list of 57 people in the state department known to be members of the American Communist Party.
In the middle of the 20th Century, the threat of Soviet Union attacks left the United States in constant fear. The American people were anxious at the thought of another war, seeing as though the second world war had ended only a little over a decade earlier. The government leaders were determined to eliminate the spread of communism in the United States. By attempting to do so, the government undermined the the American people’s trust by creating unnecessary terror and mild disruption of the economy. NewsELA says, “The Red Scares were fears when government officials and other groups promoted a fear of communism in the United States, which would overthrow capitalism and democracy” (NewsELA). The Red Scares spread fear throughout the United States which led to the prosecution of prominent members of society based on unproven rumors and caused many honest politicians and members of middle-class society to lose their positions at their places of business and in their
The Red Scare is referred to as America’s fear of communism. Taking a second to look back on History, American suspicion of communism first began in the 1920’s during World War One. Thirty years later, the paranoia over communism was stirred up by the influences of war against the Soviet Union, Un-American Activities committee and McCarthyism. This changed America’s perception of society and politics.
The communist paranoia that occurred in America during the period of 1947-1957 has come to be known as the ‘Second Red Scare’. This was a political and social movement of fear which led to communist witch hunts known as the ‘Red Hunts’, that categorise the period. The
Imagine living in a world where everyone is out to get you. Everyone is accusing each other of being something they are not. That is what happened during the time period of the Red Scare, also known as the Palmer Raids. The Red Scare was the fear of communism invading and taking over control of the U.S. government. It began during the First World War when America and Russia were at each other’s throats. The Red Scare era during and after World War 1 was an era in which the United States tried to rid itself of communism in an way possible by arresting people and separating family members. Although some believe it did the United States a good, it also gave the United States some harm.
Joseph McCarthy was a senator who used a series of tactics fueled by manipulation, deceit, and scapegoating to achieve his end goal: to gain fame and popularity. This started an era which came to be known as McCarthyism, named after the man himself. He exploited a fear that many people held after World War II, the Red Scare, and out of it came instant fame. Here, in his speech at Wheeling, he earned millions of followers who would join him in the hopes of defeating Communism once and for all. Unfortunately, like all famous fibbers, McCarthy would eventually make a series of bad decisions that would make him unpopular. Beginning with the See it Now broadcasts and the Army-McCarthy hearings, McCarthy would lose the surge of popularity he
Sam Roberts, A Decade of Fear (published March 2010) addresses the topic of the Red Scare and declares that McCarthyism turned Americans against each other after WWII by accusing one another of being a communist. These accusations led to targeting many famous or well-known people in Hollywood or politics. Therefore, Senator Joseph McCarthy had exploited the nation’s fear of communism for what many believed to be for his own gain, also the mass hysteria that came with the Red Scare and McCarthyism had a huge impact in the United States after the end of World War II. The explanation Mass Hysteria occurred was because the majority of people did not want to be accused of being a communist. A lot of innocent people, even children, had been blamed
One of the main people who were in attack against communism was Senator Joseph McCarthy. Joseph McCarthy was determined to remove any thought of communists being a part of the United States. He used gossip to get information from many people that were in a stance of holding a political office. He often had little evidence when he accused thought to be communist people that could have been working for the Soviet Union just as the invalid statistics that Donald Trump states. He ruined many people's careers and lives before other leaders in the Congress put an end to his ways.
Republican Wisconsin senator, Joseph R. McCarthy, was originally a quiet senator who was fairly unknown and had done nothing extraordinary previous to 1950. The senator changed all that when he delivered a speech in February 1950, in which he leveled allegations that the State Department employed numerous Communists. He claimed to possess a list of these Communist employees, although that list was never produced (Tindall, George Brown, and David Emory Shi). Senator McCarthy’s attempt to gain publicity with his outlandish accusations worked. Since the first Red Scare years before the fifties, many Americans continued to be terrified of Communists and their potential ability to corrupt and overrun America. Senator McCarthy played on these fears, and he continued to claim communism had infiltrated every aspect of America; politics, culture and all of American society. Because of the similarity of events from the first Red Scare, this time period of the early fifties in America is often called the second Red Scare. The second Red Scare in America’s history actually began in the late forties, previous to McCarthy’s emergence in 1950, and it continued on throughout the fifties lasting at least a dozen years (Storrs, Landon R. Y.) McCarthy’s short era during the second Red Scare actually lasted only four years, but because of his outspoken and arrogant persona, as well as his ability to inflict fear and persecution on innocent people, this entire span of time went down in the
McCarthy turned Americans against each other by developing the fear of communism. During the time in America, the Cold war was rampant so the idea of communism was present around the war against Russia.The idea of indicting fellow Americans as communist during the Red Scare was very common due to McCarthy’s allegations. According to the article, McCarthy announced “I have here in hand a list of 205- a list of names” this shows that he was willing to announce names of people that were alleged communists. McCarthy also accused members of power for example, the article claims “he has alleged 57 communist worked in the state department” this shows he was willing to create chaos among those that were suppose to be trusted by civilians. McCarthyism
Joseph McCarthy did not become well known until 1950. He was a senator from Wisconsin. The reason why he became well known was because he supposedly had a list of people who were Communists but living and working in the United States. He was determined to make it his mission to find and deport or destroy these people. This time in American history became known as the Red Scare. He was chairman of the Senate Permanent Investigation Subcommittee. He destroyed many innocent people lives with his witch hunt. After much debate and investigation, there was no such list and there were no Communists living amongst American citizens. He was ostracized by many. The tactics he used to try and find the so called Communists living amongst American