McCarthyism is a term that refers to making an accusation without proper evidence to back it up. It is named after and was used by Joseph McCarthy, who accused several hundred people in the United States government of secretly being communist. McCarthyism easily appealed to and influenced the United States due to the terror and uneasiness surrounding communism as the Cold War intensified, causing the second Red Scare to emerge.
Following World War II, America entered the Cold War with Russia, suspicion of communist corruption in the United States grew. This threat that was perceived by Americans become known as the Red Scare do to the suspicion and distrust placed in the United States by communism. McCarthy used this perceived threat to convince
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
Like Abigail, McCarthy had no evidence against the people he blamed of being communists. His list contained 205 names of communists and “[was] mainly based on a vague report” (1). Although there was not evidence against the accused communists, the American people were ready to believe that communists had infiltrated their country because the communist Soviet Union had already taken over other countries, including China, Korea, and North Vietnam (“Domino Theory” 1). Like the American people, the town folk of Salem were willing to believe that there were witches in their town since witchcraft had just been discovered in nearby Andover, where forty people were accused of witchcraft ("Andover, Massachusetts” 1). Both McCarthy and Abigail were able to take advantage of the atmosphere of hysteria during their time period to get what they so desperately wanted. Yet their reigns of power did not last long. When Abigail accused highly respected people such as John Proctor and Rebecca Nurse, the townspeople were not so willing to accept that the people they respected were practicing witchcraft. Abigail’s credibility wavered. Likewise, when McCarthy accused officials in the United States Army of being communists and innocent children like Shirley Temple, people began doubting his credibility, especially with the lack of evidence (“The Red Scare: McCarthyism” 1). Although the periods that Abigail and McCarthy controlled people’s fear was
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
Due to fear of being blacklisted, Eisenhower, the proceeding president, was reluctant to confront McCarthy. The Red Scare of the 1950s was thriving and the presidents waged war against foreign Communist powers in order not to be accused of being sympathetic towards the opposition. They conformed to public opinion and shaped politics in America into a Cold War.
The Red Scare was a significant event in The Cold War. It was the fear of the spread of communism and America didn’t want that to happen so they issued organizations and laws to try and prevent the spread of communism (Containment Policy).
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.
The Red Scare represented the widespread concern that Americans had developed over the fear of communist subversion within society. Americans believed, especially during the Cold War, which was a period of tension between the United States and Soviet Union, that communism was attempting to infiltrate every aspect of their lives. While this is not necessarily the best analogy, you can relate the widespread fear of communism during the Cold War as being similar to the heightened alert Americans had toward terrorism and suspected terrorists during the beginning of the modern century.
McCarthyism is defined as the practice of making accusations against someone who is believed to be associated with the Communist party. In February 1950, Senator McCarthy rose to the public eye when he gave a speech at
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.
McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of subversion or treason without proper regard for evidence. McCarthyism was used to make unfair allegations and using unfair investigative techniques in order to restrict dissent or political criticism. McCarthyism was developed by Joseph McCarthy, the whole purpose of why he did it was to scare Americans in order to make them not want to be a communist. McCarthyism led to several people being accused of being part of the communist party all by people blaming them when they had no hard facts that they were even a part of communism.
Hundreds of years later, the United States entered the time of the “Red Scare”. In this time, Americans were still very apprehensive of Communists. On April 22, 1954, Army hearings began. Senator Joseph McCarthy accused the United States Army of being too “soft” on communism. This really began in 1950, however, when McCarthy claimed that there were over 200 known communists in the Department of State (“Army-McCarthy” History.com). As Abigail did with the Witch trials, McCarthy began accusing innocents of crime to benefit his own personal agenda.
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.
McCarthyism arose in the 1950s. “It originally intended to criticize the anti-communist views of U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy. People were afraid of Communism influencing America 's companies and the Soviet Union spying on them. It took on a more broad but similar meaning over time and was eventually used to describe an unsubstantiated accusation of someone.” ("McCarthyism")
McCarthyism: McCarthyism is the name associated with the reckless and unsupported accusations against individuals were “deemed” Communists during the beginnings of the Cold War. It gets its name from Senator Joseph R. McCarthy from Wisconsin, who, in February 1950, claimed that Communists had infiltrated the American government. He shocked the State Department when he announced he possessed a list of over two-hundred communists who worked in the department, but the number later dropped to fifty-seven individuals. The only evidence to support his claims of enemy invasion were the name of the fifty-seven individuals who he believed “… [appeared] to be either card carrying members or certainly loyal to the Communist Party” (Voices of Freedom
McCarthy’s accusations heightened the political tensions of the time known as McCarthyism. McCarthyism started on February 9, 1950 because McCarthy made McCarthyism which affected a lot of people.