The Red Hunt Of The 1950's

In the 1950’s, the U.S government black listed artists, playwright and other intellectuals as Communists and unfairly destroyed many careers.

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.

The McCarthy hearings have been trials in which Senator Joe McCarthy accused authority’s personnel of being Communists. He exaggerated and exploited the proof and ruined many reputations. Blacklists have been created and lots of employers refused to rent the suspected or accused. (If they did then they could be accused.) Because of the exaggerated evidence and the seriousness of the charges, the hearings struck fear in many people. Even though at the start famous, the public began to surprise how some distance it would pass. After McCarthy accused the U.S. navy of housing Communists, his committee started to head downhill.

How do you account for the appeal of McCarthyism in the United States in the era following the Second World War?

Thousands of people were arrested and taken away from families in the 1960s. This was all because of something most of them did not do. Joseph McCarthy accused people of being communists without using solid evidence to prove it. In result of this, many people lost jobs, friends, some even had their whole life ruined because of it. If a parent got accused, their child lost friends, parents telling their children to stay away from them. This was the norm in the 1950s-everyone was afraid of the “reds”, or communists. The cold war had a large affect on this, because it is when America became afraid of communists or Russians. McCarthyism affected everyone in America Most citizens were afraid of the reds, some were former or current reds, some

Have you ever been caught in a time where there was a case of mass hysteria and it had affected many people? Hysteria is an exaggerated or uncontrollable emotion or excitement, especially among a group of people. This is seen threw out many times in history. As shown in the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States intensified in the late 1940s and early 1950s, hysteria over the perceived threat posed by Communists in the U.S. this became known as the Red Scare.

Many people inaccurately assess the 1950s and 1960s. Historians, in particular, tend to describe the 1950s as a decade of prosperity and the 1960s as one of turbulence. According to most, peace and harmony defined the 50s while violence and protest conjured the 60s. This isn't true because controversy existed in the fifties, many achievements occurred in the sixties, and both decades had its political ups and downs. With all the criticism surrounding it, the 1960s remains one of the most controversial decades in American history.

The 1950's were viewed as a decade of prosperity for many Americans. For lesbians and gay men, it was both a time of great fear and immeasurable courage (“Coming Out in America”). During the fifties, being different in America was seen as a crime to many Americans especially to an individual named Senator McCarthy. Senator McCarthy was a Republican senator from Wisconsin during the late forties and fifties. He is known best for being the leader of what are called Red Scare and the Lavender Scare. The Red Scare was the fear of the emergence of Communism in America during the Cold War. Not only did Senator McCarthy accuse people of being communist throughout the decade, but also accused some of being homosexuals as well. The discrimination of homosexuals during the forties and fifties is referred to as the Lavender Scare. Because of the spread of Communism and the societal views on homosexuality during the fifties, many Americans thought of this as the era of great conflict and fear.

During the late 1940’s and throughout the 1950’s, there was a great fear of Communism in America and abroad. The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) was created in 1938 as a means to investigate and weed out Communists and Communist supporters from American society. Its first major attack was on the Hollywood film industry. Blacklisting of Hollywood writers, actors, producers, directors and others suspected of Communist affiliations began with the committee's hearings in October of 1947, and flourished throughout the 1950s. Senator Joseph

While HUAC’s actions were not laudable, it paradoxically had the best interests of the American public in mind, including protecting American civil rights. Insofar as Communism seemed to threaten the American way of life, HUAC’s attempts to root out Communists reflected a concern for American civil rights. The authoritarian nature of the Communist Party, as described by some, seems to support the idea of a Communist threat to American ideals. As a friendly witness before HUAC, for example, former Communist Party member Elia Kazan confessed that he left the party because “I had enough regimentation, enough of being told what to think and say and do, enough of their habitual violation of the daily practices of democracy to which I was accustomed” (406). In his testimony, Kazan portrays the Communist party as a suppressor of civil rights (“daily practices,” such as the right to “think”

The Red Scare, also known as McCarthyism, took place during the 1950’s when Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy was elected during a time of fear as the Cold War’s lasting effects wore on the people of America. McCarthy could twist the anger and fear of the American citizens to produce a new social phenomenon, Communism invading our politics. McCarthy was elected as the Senator in 1946 and became a household name four years later in 1950 when he claimed 205 communists infiltrated the State Department. McCarthy’s vigorous investigation for communists in the political society made him an incredibly influential political figure. Two years later in 1952, he obtained the chairmanship for the Government Operations Party while also being reelected. McCarthy began questioning

The Red Scare of the fifties was a very controversial time in American history. The

Beginning in the early 1950s, Senator Joseph McCarthy released a monumental rampage across the United States. For fear of governmental infiltration by Communists, an outbreak of accusations swept the nation as a result of the Wisconsin senator, and helped create what is known as the second Red Scare (“McCarthyism”)

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.

Another one of the major things that happened in the 1950s was the Red Scare. What that means is that people were scared that communists would rise against them. Many of the people were very affected and according to The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History:“Hundreds of screenwriters, actors, and directors were blacklisted because of their alleged political beliefs, while teachers, steelworkers, sailors, lawyers, and social workers lost their jobs for similar reasons.More than thirty-nine states required teachers and other public employees to take loyalty oaths” (Anti-Communism).