The Fear Of Communism Affected American Life

The Vietnam war has been referred to by many names, one of the longer ones was 'the cornerstone of the free world southeast Asia'. It was called that by John F. Kennedy. He was talking about Vietnam being and essential country in a non-communist world. He believed that if Vietnam became a communist country, all of the surrounding countries would also become communists. This is the main reason America was involved in the Vietnam war. Another reason was that America wanted to spread their “political ideas around the globe”. They wanted to do this so that their anti-communism stance was clear. The public also wanted to keep communism from spreading. To soldiers, the war was like a crusade, a great journey to purge the communists from Vietnam.

On December 7th, 1941, Japanese fighter planes staged an attack on U.S naval and military forces based in Pearl Harbour, Hawaii. In around just two hours, America suffered from approximately 3,435 casualties including 2,000 deaths. The shattering defeat cost the U.S, 8 battle ships and around 200 airplanes. The following day, President Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan. This was approved, and more than two years into the conflict, America had eventually fully committed to the war.

The pervasive Red Scare of the 1950s, which peaked just before mid- decade, legitimated the sanitizing of the nation's political culture, not only through prosecuting and persecuting anyone or anything smacking of communism, but also manipulating a whole range of suspect people, ideas, and artifacts. Purifying society of corrupting influences became a permissible activity, upheld by the religious, political, economic, legal, and cultural establishment. Everyone was vulnerable, but particularly the impressionable young, whose naiveté and search for excitement could easily lead to moral corruption or

1. Describe the formation of the Soviet Union. What was the Russian Revolution about? What did early Soviet government look like?

During the late 1940s and the early 1950s, the thought of communism instilled fear within many Americans because it was portrayed in such a way that confined diversity and corroded political culture. This fear of communism was nicknamed the “Red Scare” and was fed by Joseph McCarthy’s accusations of hidden communist in the country. The Manchurian Candidate was a black-and-white American film released in 1962 that depicted the Cold War and the effects that paranoia had on the nation. It was released at the peak of the Cuban Missile Crisis and the spread of communism. This film was about Raymond Shaw, the son of a right-wing political family, who was brainwashed to act as an assassin for his mother in a communist conspiracy theory. Major Bennet (Ben) Marco was another main character that played an important role in discovering the truth of Shaw’s brainwashing. Raymond Shaw faced the conflict of acting upon his free will while still being subconsciously manipulated by someone else. Throughout the film, Shaw was shown committing actions that he does not recall whatsoever later due to his programming which was triggered by the Queen of Diamonds playing card. Through the use of film techniques, The Manchurian Candidate creates a scenario which resembles the manifestation of America’s “Red Scare” paranoia in that the film portrays Raymond Shaw as an individual who lacks human agency due to his brainwashing because of a communist conspiracy.

Immediately after World War II, another war emerged from the horizon. The Cold War, a battle for both political and military superiority between the Soviet Union and the United States, began soon after World War II, with Vietnam as a central issue. Vietnam, bordered by China, Laos, and Cambodia, became a colony of the French in the late 1800s, who exploited the locals for raw material, such as tin, rubber, and oil. They justified imperialism by insisting that they were protecting the Vietnamese and held power over Indochina until World War II. Desperate for resources, the Japanese conquered Southeast Asia, including Vietnam, for raw materials during World War II. While the French did naught, Ho Chi Minh took advantage of the political

“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.”- H. P. Lovecraft. In the 1900’s, fear drove America. The Red Scare was a time when Americans were afraid of the threat of Communism. In the Sacco and Vanzetti case, two Italian anarchists were convicted of crimes which they were clearly innocent of. The Ku Klux Klan attempted to keep African-Americans out of positions of power and for brief time was successful. The Red Scare, Sacco Vanzetti case and the rise of the KKK all are example of how American’s fear the unknown and what we don’t understand.

During 1919-1920, the United States of America was in an uproar. The government thought the Red Scare which was the government of communism in Russia was going to take over the government of the United States of America. If you showed in interest in the government of communism, you may be considering as an immigrant. You may have somebody from the government come to your house asking you questions or even worse you may throw you in prison. This was a nary terrible to be an American citizen. Your loyalty was always being question. You had to watch what you say, especially, in public, because the government had a way of taking your words and twisting them and make you say what you really did not say. People were constantly living in fear. Parents

After WWII the democratic U.S. and the soviets became engaged in a series of largely political and economic clashes we called the cold war. The rivalry between the two powers raised concerns in US that communist are inside the U.S. Which poses a U.S. Security threat and gets Americans scared. I believe that the red scare created McCarthyism and not the other way around because the red scare came right after wwII hysteria still left over from Hitler, the red scare is what led to actions that had an enduring effect on the us government and society, and because the us thinks soviet spies could be a threat to the US and cause Americans to start mistrusting and causing McCarthy to rise up with his accusations.

II BACKGROUND:- Throughout the period of Cold War with the Soviet Union from the late 1940s through 1950s, the fear of communism, also known as the Red Scare, affected the politics, civilization, and culture of the society. (What is the Red Scare). In a like manner, the Second Red Scare is the Soviet domination of Eastern and Central Europe and the Communist taking over China which petrified the American public. This fueled a fear that communism would expand around the world and invade the government. Consequently, this phobia of Communism escalated when Mao Zedong started to control China.

After World War II the next threat was the Soviet Union and the growing amount of communism. The fear of communism breed the conformist 1950’s, which created suburbs, consumerism, “organization men”, domesticated women, car culture, and explicit gender rules (I&J, 43-58). Communism engulfed everyone so much that people were afraid to be different. The culture of the 1950’s was not only seen in their everyday lives but shown through advertisements.

Hmm...did communism pose a threat to america? Let me begin by telling you about communism.

American anticommunism stems from a history of fear, and want of control over individuals, and groups of people who are defined as “others”. In this case “others”, is a term attributed to American citizens who were a part of, or held any relation or affiliation with the American Communist Party. Before them, it was immigrants; and before them it was African Americans, and Native Americans (Schrecker, 13). This fear and want of control over the American Communist Party, which immediately started after WWI in America, during the Red Scare of 1919-20; was used by the Republican and Democratic Parties, and their constituents, to gain and hold support in the United States government, and to attempt to shape American domestic and foreign policy

The Red Scare was a huge issue that the US citizens faced after learning of Russia’s plans to try and overtake all countries and turn them into Communist powers. People would fear that the men and women currently residing in the US would turn to support Stalin and his ways. During this time, Communism was the most feared thing in the US. People who were sought to belive in Communism would be feared and not be treated as they once were. Politicians would use this strategy to help boost their votes during elections. Senator Joseph R. McCarthy started a mass “Witch Hunt” to search and find the hidden supporters of Communism. McCarthy would frame almost anyone stating that they believed in Communism, which would make people fear and basically

Communism is a system of social organisation which formerly consumed almost a third of countries in the entire world, having originated in Russia. The first official communist state was founded during the Russian revolutions in 1917, due to the inaugural communist political party ‘Bolsheviks’ gaining primal power. Afterwards, the influence of communism spread to other countries with the likes of Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and East Germany to name a few. These countries that were governed on communist principles were known as the ‘Eastern Bloc’. Even countries in Asia were persuaded into the theoretically human equality system such as China, Laos and Vietnam. Communism was gathering strength to strength every year in the mid 20th century, but eventually its impact was wiped off in the late 20th century when the Berlin War was knocked down in 1989, ending the barrier between the Eastern and Western blocs. Communism arguably was the most influential social experiment in history, but also the most flawed and its failure to change the world permanently will always remain significant in history.