McCarthyism and Documents of History

The late 1940′s were a time when much change happened to the American society. As a result to the expanding threat of the Soviet Union, or its Communistic ideals, America took a stand that lead it to the Cold War.  Although the war didn’t involve fighting directly with Russia, it still affected the American society and domestic policy. The war affected America so much that it lead to a fear of livelihood; precisely when Joseph McCarthy began his “witch hunt”. The Cold war lead to an enlarged fear of nuclear war; as well, it affected many of the domestic policies.

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.

During the Cold War communist began to emerge. Communist are people who follow or believe in communism. They were such a small group that no one paid much attention to them until after World War 2. When WW II ended communist started causing problems. They already took power in other countries and Americans began to fear they would do the same to the U.S. They wondered if Soviet Spies were in America secretly advertising communism. U.S. citizens even questioned if communist were involved in U.S. government jobs or in schools miseducating students and children. To help calm down these fears Joseph Raymond McCarthy started McCarthyism. (Shmoop.com)

How do you account for the appeal of McCarthyism in the United States in the era following the Second World War?

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.

During the Cold War, the United States was deeply enthralled in fears of a Communist takeover. The Cold War, a nuclear war between the Soviet Union and the United States, lasted from 1945 to 1990. As the Cold War progressed spies and individuals of the communist party were uncovered and put on trial. Joseph McCarthy, a Wisconsin senator, took advantage of the United States fear of communists by making up false evidence and accusations against innocent people. Americans feared that there were roots of Communism throughout communities in the United States, and more specifically, in the government. In February of 1950, McCarthy made a radical statement announcing he possessed a list of 205 government officials that were involved in the communist party. This sparked the beginning of the McCarthy era. Because this list was made up, McCarthy had to keep his lie going to maintain spotlight attention from the media and its millions of viewers. His false accusations led to tension and outbreak among numerous communities in the United States. McCarthy generated the Red Scare and the Hollywood Blacklist, these two events ruined thousands of innocent peoples lives. Joseph McCarthy was driven by the need for power and, briefly, accomplished his goal through the use of fear and accusatory tactics.

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

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

Many people often question what McCarthyism is and what it stands for but today there will be light shed on the subject and they can figure out how real it was. In the first place, The definition of McCarthyism is, “The practice of making accusations of disloyalty, especially of pro-Communist activity, in many instances unsupported by proof or based on slight, doubtful, or irrelevant evidence”(McCarthyism). The practices of McCarthyism were very unjust and many people were wrongfully accused of

In Senator McCarthy’s speech delivered on February 9, 1950 he showed the world a whole new side of the trusted government they thought the United States had; the Communist side. In McCarthy’s speech he begins by speaking of the day being the birthday of our past President Abraham Lincoln. Then gradually alludes to the fear that he feels for the security of the United States. One of the first points that McCarthy makes is, “This is a time of ‘the cold war.’ This is a time when all of the world is split into two vast, increasingly hostile armed camps… Today we can almost physically hear the mutterings and rumblings of an invigorated god of war.” McCarthy uses words like “hostile” and “invigorated god of war” showing the people that the threat is real. That they shouldn’t ignore it. McCarthy is looking for a response in his

Belfrage, Cedric. The American Inquisition: A Profile of the 'McCarthy Era'. New York: Thunder's Mouth P, 1989. 183-275.

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.

McCarthyism and those who practiced it were riddled with logical fallacies. Because of the errors made by this and their effectiveness on swaying the popular opinion of America, the freedom of speech and expression of many were suppressed and subverted. Long after McCarthy’s time in the forefront of politics, American citizens were still paying for the repercussions of the Communist scare, as in the case of Julius Scales. Scales never met McCarthy, nor was he questioned by the HUAC, but he was still a victim to the fallacies in reasoning that dictated the American court system at the time. It was a time where patriotism and fear overpowered logic that McCarthyism existed to its full potential in America, taking away one of the most fundamental

The dropping of the atomic bomb in 1945 and the Cold War that followed led to an atmosphere of fear, paranoia and distrust within the American public. This was mainly due to politicians such as Senator Joseph McCarthy exacerbating the idea of mutually assured destruction. Edward Murrow, a CBS news journalist took a stand against McCarthy through his show “See It Now”, where he called out the senator for promoting fear and ruining the lives of honest people. These events were brought to life through George Clooney’s film “Good Night and Good Luck”. It was towards the end of McCarthyism when Ray Bradbury’s science fiction thriller Fahrenheit 451 was released; a controversial book that commented on the red scare by presenting a future that was