Mccarthyism And Mccarthyism And The Cold War

The Cold War was the continuing state of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition existing after World War II between the Communist World – primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies – and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States and its allies.

The Red Scare, also known as, McCarthyism started in the early 1950’s. It got the name McCarthyism from Senator Joseph Raymond McCarthy. McCarthy started The Red Scare. It was very similar to a witch hunt but, it wasn’t witches they were hunting for. They were searching for communist. The Red Scare was a horrible and cruel period during the early 1900’s.

The first and second red scared really instilled the fear of communism. And Joseph McCarthy has something to do with it. Joseph McCarthy is infamously known for making unsupported accusations against people as far as saying they’re communists; his false accusations started what soon became one of America’s largest periods of mass hysteria.

McCarthyism has a lot to do with America 's history, even still today examples of McCarthyism are seen in america . Most victims of mccarthyism are hollywood actors and famous people because they impact american society more than regular people. Famous people such as Helen Keller, Leonard Bernstein , Burl Ives, Pete Seeger, Artie Shaw, Zero Mostel, Charlie Chaplin, Langston Hughes, Orson Welles, and Dolores del Rio were blamed for supposedly being part of the communist party. But that was not all, there was also another 205 average people that were blamed for being a part of the communist party as well. McCarthy’s committee then started investigating the United States Army. His charges kept affecting more and more powerful people.

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 Red Scare Era, McCarthy accused people of crimes they did not commit, he falsified evidence trying to frame them for being apart of the communist infiltration. McCarthy accused 224 people of 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.

McCarthyism is when people make accusations of treason without evidence, and take advantage of some extreme fear in order to send people they don’t like to jail or to death. Though wrong, it was used many times throughout history. I intend to explain how McCarthyism is comparable to what happened in the Salem Witch Trials, how it was used in The Red Scare, and the effects of it on the people accused.

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

McCarthyism was a time of political hysteria and a figurative witch-hunt that swept through the American society during the 1950s when Anti- Communist figures like Senator Joseph McCarthy and the House Committee on Un- American Activities stalked the land- McCarthyism. McCarthyism is when accusations of treason are made without any prior or proper evidence. Joseph McCarthy was a Republican from Wisconsin, and he was elected to Senate in 1946. He officially rose in power when he made a speech accusing 205 people of being communist and infiltrating the US government. Conservatives in the United States began to fear that anyone with any affiliation with the Communist Party or Russia was a threat to the nation. McCarthy was able to use the fear of others as his advantage. McCarthyism finally reached its peak when 36 televised interviews took place to investigate espionage. Many in turn suffered unemployment or imprisonment. Later, many of these verdicts were overturned and labeled as unconstitutional and illegal. In both the witch trials of Salem, Massachusetts, the trial of Bertram Cates in Hillsboro, Tennessee, and the McCarthy Era, corrupt people used the fear of others for of reasons of hatred, similar to Senator McCarthy. These power hungry people pick a convenient scapegoats as a way of improving what they believe to be right and abandoning all reason in the face of fear. However, The Crucible, serves as a more lasting response to the McCarthyism trials and its modern day

The Cold War was an over 40 year war between the former World War II alliances The United States and The Soviet Union. This was a war that begun by political disagreements, harsh anti-communist words from Winston Churchill, and a power imbalance between The Soviet Union and The United States. Though it was a war, a new, lethal weapon was used to emotionally harm the opposing country rather than causing physical damage.

The Second Red Scare was a period of heightened fears of the Soviet Union and the political ideology of Communism. The paranoia and hysteria inherent to this period led to discrimination of Communists. Joseph McCarthy was a main player in this Red Scare, which was sometimes called the “Witch-Hunts in Washington.” He was a Wisconsin senator who made claims against those whom he suspected of being Communists or Communist sympathizers.

Have you ever found yourself being influenced into doing something you wouldn't normally feel comfortable doing just because everyone else is doing it? This situation has been seen several times throughout history, for example, through 1869 to 1960, after the confederate states loss of the civil war, former slaves were given human rights. Most americans opposed this and as a result began to beat and hang african americans. Lynchings became regular to americans, and many of them felt committing these murders was okay. The same can be seen in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible , When the people of salem began hanging fellow townspeople in a widespread fear of witches.

The Cold War was the name given to the time period from 1945 to 1991. After World War II, tensions began between the United States and the Soviet Union. Fighting between the United States and Soviet Union did not happen directly against each other. Instead they fought with arms races, space races, and spying. Both superpowers set aside their differences to defeat Adolf Hitler, even before the war the United States distrusted the Soviet Union. The United States disliked the way the Soviet Union ran government. They believed that the Soviet Union wanted to overthrow the non-communist governments.

Everyone knew about it, but no one ever talked about it. The first knowledge many American's had of Communism came from Winston Churchill's "Iron Curtain Speech" (Matusow, 45). Churchill basically said in his speech that the Soviet Union was pushing forward a global Communist takeover. And Churchill also said that he believed, "We should not let such a force loose on the planet" (Matusow, 46). That was the first time many American eyes were opened to Communism, and McCarthy made sure it was not the last. The entire chaos that Senator McCarthy caused had become collectively known as "The Red Scare" (Feuerlicht, 34). McCarthy used this entire "Red Scare" idea to boost his hopes for re-election. But an elected official is supposed to be a representative of the people. All McCarthy did was abuse his power and pull the wool over the people's eyes. McCarthy did not work for the benefit of the people. He only worked for the benefit of himself.