Senator Joseph McCarthy wildly raged that Soviet spies had infiltrated the State Department and were re-directing it to support Communism abroad. A multitude of these allegations were false. The lives and reputation of hundreds were ruined by McCarthy’s verbal attacks. He led a craze through government to root out suspected communists. As more and more people were accused, the hysteria increased. The government was powerless to stop the rampant forces of McCarthyism, as government officials feared that criticizing McCarthy’s tactics would result in their being accused. As a result of the senators’ unscrupulous statements, “McCarthyism” is defined as “the political practice of publicizing accusations of disloyalty or subversion with insufficient regard to evidence.” He also contributed the Second Red Scare occurring in the 1950, after his crusade created massive hysteria. His downfall occurred after going too far in his communist witch hunt, and soon there was a backlash against him. Ultimately, McCarthy alleged Communist influence in
McCarthy forced the people to betray one another so they wouldn’t get charged for anything. Self preservation is a natural instinct on wanting to protect yourself from others, so it would kick in whenever you are fearful of something. Bomb threats are alarming to hear, especially in the time of McCarthyism. This added onto the fear and helped push it to the limits in people’s minds. Paranoia exaggerates things to the extreme, this happens because of fear causing it to. Americans were paranoid of who were communists, they couldn’t trust anybody because of it. In the end, McCarthy pushed his accusations of communists to the extreme. It was definitely pleasing to know that their was eventually an end to
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.
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.
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
McCarthy was the senator of Wisconsin and he makes no name for himself. It is a list of 200 members of the Department of State that are referred to as Communists. The punishments of being accused of being a Communist is it could lead to “loss of employment and destroyed reputation, could be jailed.” (McCarthy’s List). The people could lose their jobs and be jailed if they do not confess or release information on former Communists. If they refuse they would be punished with a series of false accusations that could not be justified. It did many damage to peoples lives and careers. The people felt threatened because if they do not release the information their careers would be over and they would have no life. The people did not known what to do. Finally, McCarthy did not find any communists and his “personal power collapsed in 1954 when he accused the Army of coddling known Communists.” His false accusations resulted in his downfall. The people were threatened because their lives could have been taken away from them with no concrete
He also strongly believed the greater enemy is within our own nation. McCarthy stated, “It has not been the less fortunate or members of the minority group who have been selling this nation out, but rather those who have had all the benefits that the wealthiest nations on the earth has had to offer…” This shows our bigger enemy was within the government, such as the inside people that would sell out our information. One of the accused, John Service, had a report to kill Chiang Kai-shek (the leader fighting against communism in China). His reasoning behind this was he thought China’s best chance to survive economically is to be communist. After this report, he was called a communist and was singled out. After Service, the American people got more sensitive about the issue, seeing the possibilities. The whole country was ruled by fear. Ronald Reagan said, “I never as a citizen want to see our country become urged , by either fear or resentment of this group.” He knew what was going to happen if these unfair trials
In McCarthy’s famous Wheeler speech in West Virginia, he stated he had a list of 205 names that were supposedly members of the State department that were involved with the American Communist Party. McCarthy persevered and pushed to successfully become appointed as Chairman of the Government Committee on Operations of the Senate, which was crucial in broadening the scope of his powers to investigate subversives. He questioned numerous government departments and the paranoia and fear produced from the witch-hunts and fear of subversives infiltrating America resulted in it being titled ‘McCarthyism’. McCarthy eventually began to lose his popularity and influence over America during October of 1953 due to his controversial accusations against the U.S Army. When president Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected, McCarthy’s opinions became less of a focus in Media. Many news organisations painted McCarthy as a villainous character due to his attacks on innocent people (Hyper 1).
Joseph McCarthy is a desperate and unlikeable U.S senator who uses fear against others, which leads to the use of the horrific use of McCarthyism. Mccarthy is not a supporter of communists, “Thus he spread terror among his peers. His Republican colleagues were torn between fear of his prowess and willingness to use his attacks on President Harry Truman” (“Joseph”). McCarthy claims that people working within the U.S government are communists and that they should be exposed. Mccarthy blames others so people see him as a hero for saving the country from communist. His desperateness causes him to accuse his peers of being communists. For that reason people do not want to be around him because of the “terror” he causes and “spreads”. Mccarthy wants to do everything to address the problem of communism. Therefore, to prove that there is a problem going on, “McCarthy claimed to have in hand a list of 205 people in the U.S. State Department
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
Sam Robert in the article “A decade of fear” argues that Mccarthyism turned Americans against each other. Robert supports his claim by illustrating fear, describing betrayal, and comparing it to other US internal conflicts. The author's purpose is to point out a vulnerable point in American history in order to demonstrate how Americans fell prey to Mccarthy’s propaganda. The author writes in a direct and cynical tone for an educated audience. I Strongly agree with Rogers. Mccarthyism caused Americans to turn on each other because it sparked and strengthened the fear of there being communist spies in the government. As well as inciting Americans to hunt and expose communists or anyone they thought to be communist and plunging Americans into a mass hysteria.
McCarthy scared Americans into thinking they were next to be convicted of being a communist. Many Americans turned against each other by believing their next door neighbor was a communist. According to the article, “Thousands of alleged Communist in the U.S. were arrested and deported during what became known as the Red Scare. Neighbors did not trust one another after this event, imagine living next to a suspected Communist. The article states, “ McCarthy dropped a bombshell:The State Department is infested with Communist.” McCarthy shocked the media and the American people, McCarthy gained instant fame as this accusation sent shock waves through the nation. The tension that was already between America and the Soviet Union made
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
Even if McCarthy’s influence was unintentional, his actions and accusations were very much talked about, ultimately because of his power over the American public at the
McCarthy uses a nostalgic strategy to persuade the perusers that being in a position that obliges intensely does not mean changing the personality. When McCarthy first started her college as a medical student, the only thing she concentrate is about to get knowledge. Doing well was very imperative for her than anything else. McCarthy needed to do the lab on the grounds that she believed is going to help her with her profession. Later when she consider the thought of doing the lab she felt that she was doing something incorrectly. She felt she should be the individual she was some time recently. Toward the end, she felt that doing the lab was incorrect idea. According to McCarthy, “ when I started medical school I felt that not only did