Point Of Order Paranoia

The First and Second Red Scare of the United States paved the way for a long standing fear of communism and proved to be one of America’s largest periods of mass hysteria. Throughout the years authors and analysts have studied and formed expository albeit argumentative books and articles in an attempt to further understand this period of time; the mindset held during this period however is shown to be completely different compared to now.

To get a clear view and understanding of the book, first must review the time period in history. The book was written in the mid 1950's during the cold war. Former General McCarthy, then U.S. Senator started a fire ball of suspicion, suppression, and

Racism was a larger issue back in the 1930’s than it is today. During the 1930’s many Black Americans were unable to find jobs. With the Great Depression came the “last hired first fired” mindset. Many African Americans felt that this was targeted towards them (Racial 5). This along with Jim Crow laws kept most blacks in a level of poverty, which added to the discrimination (Racial 7). Throughout this time, all the way up into the 1960’s and 1970’s African Americans were under great segregation. During this thirty years, great strides toward social equality were made, but at the cost of numerous racial driven incidents. Many great African American icons were assassinated during this time. Malcolm X was assassinated in 1965 because he stood up against racial oppression as well as Martin Luther King Jr. who was assassinated in 1968. Both of these two men were part of the leading force in the desegregation of America (Rosenberg 1). This movement led to great tension between the African American culture and white culture, which led to many very violent cases between the races. A great

Kennedy did to expand the United States was his involvement in the civil rights movement. He personally helped many African Americans by making phone calls. For example, when Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested for protesting in Atlanta, Kennedy personally called to help secure his release safely. When Kennedy was elected to office, he appointed many African Americans to high level positions and strengthened the Civil Rights Commission (Civil Rights Movement). The fall after Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, the civil rights bill began clearing hurdles and won over support of House and Senate Republican leaders. John F. Kennedy was assassinated before the bill was able to pass, however the Civil Rights Act was passed as a way to honor President Kennedy. The passing of this act was a major step in achieving full legal

It is hard to deny that the Black Power movements had a damaging impact in the 1960s. The preaching of Elijah Mohammed and later Malcolm X that integration was impossible and undesirable, that white people were devils and Christianity just a legacy of slavery, created a mirror of white racism that could only be divisive. They rejected the support of white liberals and divided white from black. They subjected integrationist leaders like Martin Luther King to campaigns of personal abuse, calling him a

In my opinion, some people who were part of America society decided to kill some charismatic political leaders in the 60s decade probably due to the Kennedys’, MLK, Malcolm X, and Evers talked about implementing profound changes around culture, civil rights, and opportunities for minorities in the United States. In other words, some people wanted to keep the status quo, and the reforms were unwelcome from them.

By the 1950’s and 1960’s, a breaking point was reached and blacks were tired of being mistreated. Many Civil Rights groups began to form, like the SNCC, and leaders, like Martin Luther King Jr., began to rise. As document 5 shows, these groups goals were to use peaceful protest and civil disobedience to demonstrate the societal unrest that is occurring and the need for political action. Upset at the racial injustice instigated by “Jim Crow Laws” and racism, these groups, through demonstrations such as the Greensboro Sit-ins, the Montgomery Bus Boycotts and the March on Washington, brought to public attention to the African Americans’ dreams of to finally getting the rights they were promised with emancipation. This could be further demonstrated by the “I Have a Dream” Speech. In this speech, given in March of 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. discusses a future for America that lives by the standard that all men are created equal. This outside resource, along with various other movements, lead to further public outcry. As document 6 shows this grew to a point to where political action needed to be done. To Kennedy and his successor (Lyndon B. Johnson), this was a huge moral issue that couldn’t be ignored or else the nation would tear itself apart. This ultimately lead to the passing of the acts like the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act. These acts were a major victory and largely paved the way to future equality for African

During the late 1960s black power began to arise and take a sudden increase. The Black Panthers and the Students for a Democratic Society began to organize ghetto dwellers into a revolutionary army to overthrow capitalism and to put an end to "Jim Crow" and the harsh situations that came with it. (source 5)

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 United States involved itself in World War II to preserve democracy, but when Joseph Stalin made it his top priority to spread communism across Europe, the United States’ goal was endangered. As a result, in 1947, President Harry Truman created Executive Order 9835, which called for “a loyalty investigation of every person entering the civilian employment of any department or agency of the executive branch of the Federal Government” (Document 1). Truman’s Executive Order exhibits a clear distrust of the protection of American ideals, as Truman would have never instituted this policy if he were not paranoid of the communistic plague. Truman’s paranoia was not only displayed by Executive Order 9835, but also emulated by the American people. Truman’s Doctrine spurred fear across the American public, most prominently showed in the trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. The Rosenberg’s were unfairly tried and biasedly considered communists by the American government, ultimately resulting in execution. As seen by Elliot Erwitt’s photographs, the American public was enraged and feared communist ideals (Document

Even Though the 1960’s were very controversial,I believe these events caused Americans to become more united. One of the most watched events during this era was the Civil rights movement. For years now african americans had been fighting for equal rights. Over this time period the movement had started to gather a lot momentum especially when the moment to started getting support from other people besides african americans. As shown in the image in document A you see a white man helping up a black man. This image could easily represent how white people were starting to help african american fight to achieve equal rights. Civil rights leader were starting to see this including Malcolm X. Malcolm X had been seen as very strong supporter for black

Throughout the JFK assassination there were many speculations and conspiracy theories that Americans discovered. This brought America together to find out who shot the president, it was a huge mystery at the time and still is to this day. When the Zapruder film came out, the Warren report, and more evidence, this started many conspiracy and arguments between the government and Americans. Overall, one can conclude that the JFK assassination had the most conspiracy theories and

The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. caused racial tensions to escalate even more. “Many whites openly celebrated the murder.” (Westheider 97) “The feeling of anger and frustration did not

For example, when Emmet Till was murdered by two white men for talking to a white woman, the media picked up on this and showed pictures of Tills mutilated body. There was also a lot of media coverage of the attacks on African Americans and churches during the Montgomery bus boycott. It could be said these attacks were in retaliation to Kings ever increasing popularity, but nevertheless, the black people of America continued their support for King. King’s contributions to forming well structured organisations is also admired by many.

In the midst of the political and economic discord, tensions were rising in America over the spread of communism at home. This sparked the creation of the House of Un-American Activities Committee, whose duty was to investigate communist influence in labor unions and New Deal organizations. During the “Great Fear,” all