Rhetorical Analysis Of Joseph Mccarthy's Enemies From Within

In February of 1950, Senator Joseph McCarthy made a speech with the purpose of accusing democratic representative, Alger Hiss, of working with the communist Soviets in order to convince the American people to support the Republican party. McCarthy convinces his audience by using syntactical devices, such as anaphoras, rhetorical questions, and parallelism.

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.

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.

The United States sought to prevent the spread of communism, in order to limit the Soviet Union’s global authority. Americans viewed communism as a direct threat to democracy, free-market values, and civil liberties. They feared “communists are dedicated to the overthrow” of the American government (doc. 7.10). Due to the domino effect, Americans feared if one country in a region came under the influence of communism, the surrounding countries would follow. In order to protect American security and belittle the Soviet Union’s global authority, the United States intervened in Korea and Vietnam. Additionally, Joseph McCarthy, the junior senator from Wisconsin, claimed he had “a list of 205” traitorous U.S. government employees who were secretly communist (doc. 7.14). This sparked mass fear among American society, due to the concerte number given of 205. The belief that there was enemies from within further encouraged Americans to adopt the foreign policy of containment to ensure communism would not threaten American democracy and

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

The fear of communism in America held a significant presence during and after World War II. The establishment of The House of Un-American Activities Committees in the late 1940’s was a result of this fear. The committee investigated communist influence in Hollywood and accused ten writers and directors of communism and were then subjected to a year in jail and were blacklisted. Then in the early 1950’s, Senator of Wisconsin, Joseph McCarthy established a public view of McCarthyism. McCarthy claimed he knew of many government employees working for the Communist Party. Joseph McCarthy’s speech “Enemies Within” launched anticommunism hearings in the Senate sub-committee. McCarthy accused many of communist activity and all he accused would be convicted unless they gave names of other “communists”. He even accused decorated World War II hero’s, which would eventually be the downfall of his McCarthyism point of view. The United Sates also had a constant fear of nuclear bombs, which was a powerful weapon that became popular amongst many world powers; especially the Soviets after they exploded their first atomic bomb in 1949. Communism in America was a taboo

Joseph McCarthy was a United States senator in the mid twentieth century who believed that the communists were taking over the State Department and were shaping the foreign

The war of ideologies is ubiquitous. Everything that is subject to evaluation is arguable. What is the best show on television, what's the safest vehicle to drive, or what is the right religious faith to follow? The need to sway the opinion of our opponents stems from the desire to know that we are making rational decisions using a sound mind. When Joseph McCarthy (in a speech in Wheeling, West Virginia, on February 9, 1950) sought to persuade his audience to support exposing and ousting State Department employees that he suspected of Communist allegiance, his rhetorical strategies would lean on stirring the emotions of those present. Calling communism "a religion of immoralism," McCarthy focused on its lack of religious content rather than

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

Throughout the early 1950's, the nation was deeply engrossed in fears of a Communist takeover. At a time when America's fears were at their very height, Joseph McCarthy, a Republican Senator from Wisconsin pushed America's fears to an extreme. As a ploy to get himself re-elected, and to make America hate Communism as much as he did, the Senator devised a devious scheme. McCarthy, while giving a speech, held up a piece of paper and exclaimed, "I have here a list of 57 known Communists who are currently employed by the U.S. State Department" (Fried, 89). A few days later, McCarthy raised the number of people on the list from 57 to 205. The reaction to McCarthy's announcement was absolute panic. Until that time, the

Also during this time from the late 1940s to the late 1950s began McCarthyism and the scare of Communism being the United States. Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin would be pushed into the public spotlight by the issue of anti-Communism. It was discovered later that the FBI had helped give McCarthy the information to help him start his campaign against Communism. For several years, McCarthy operated to seek out and destroy the lives of people whom he or others had declared as being a Communist. Lytle mentions that McCarthy charged that Communists had penetrated the United States by becoming involved in churches, the army, the CIA, and the hydrogen bomb program. Even after McCarthy’s eventual political death, McCarthyism still went on and took longer to fade away. McCarthyism was the lasting legacy of McCarthy that put the nation in a frenzy. It was characterized by false accusations of neighbors, family members, and friends and being part of the Communist party. These accusations meant that these peoples’ lives were over. They had no more authority, respect, or even career opportunities after being accused, albeit falsely.

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.

Simultaneously, McCarthyism took shape in the United States. It was started by the then the United States Senator Joe McCarthy and gripped fear across the country. He highlighted how people in America could be communist sympathizers, spies or communist themselves. Through scrutiny of the film, many people comprehend the theme differently. Communism, McCarthyism and the key ideas of thinking and conformity are all speculated, but they come together in a manner that disproves the ideologies of the 1950s.

The historical moment which commened the “McCarthy Crusade” was on February 9, 1950, when McCarthy appeared in front of the Ohio Women’s Republican Club in Wheeling, West Virginia. At this appearance, he

Senator Joseph McCarthy (Rep.) was a very controversial political figure during the Cold War climate during the early 50’s that used the fear of communism to ruin the lives of many people in the United States, as part of a campaign to expose suspected communists by aggressively questioning and investigating them before government panels which ultimately ruined their lives as well as the people they associated with. During this era, the American government got rid of the very democratic freedoms and principles that they were founded on, in the name of protecting them. The book The Rise and Fall of Senator Joe McCarthy focuses on how Senator McCarthy was able to gain unstoppable power and how he was brought down by the government he exploited. Joseph R. McCarthy was born November 14, 1908 in small area in Wisconsin, and died May 2, 1957 at the age of 48. Joe