The Red Scare of McCarthyism

Vivian Gonzalez Mr. Martinez-Ramos A.P. United States History May 3, 2000 McCarthyism was one of the saddest events of American history. It destroyed people’s lives and shattered many families. It threw innocent people into a whirlwind of mass confusion and fictional portrayals of their lives. McCarthyism spawned for the country’s new found terror of Communism known as the red scare. McCarthyism was an extreme version of the red scare, a scare whose ends did not justify the means. The Red Scare happened twice in the history of this great country. When the communist took over Russia in 1919, the American people were unnerved. They were afraid of a communist take over in the states. When the First World War ended in 1918, there was still

McCarthyism- McCarthy was a senator famous for the communist hysteria in the 50’s. He blamed 205 State Department workers for having ties with communists. He gained support by playing into American’s fears of the spread of communism. Though some of these people accused of not being loyal were in fact not loyal, most weren’t. His accusations were mainly built on speculation. His smear tactics became known as McCarthyism. Once he questioned the army’s loyalty that was it and he was called out by Eisenhower.

The Red Scare represented the widespread concern that Americans had developed over the fear of communist subversion within society. Americans believed, especially during the Cold War, which was a period of tension between the United States and Soviet Union, that communism was attempting to infiltrate every aspect of their lives. While this is not necessarily the best analogy, you can relate the widespread fear of communism during the Cold War as being similar to the heightened alert Americans had toward terrorism and suspected terrorists during the beginning of the modern century.

The Second Red Scare was a period of heightened fears of the Soviet Union and the political ideology of Communism. The paranoia and hysteria inherent to this period led to discrimination of Communists. Joseph McCarthy was a main player in this Red Scare, which was sometimes called the “Witch-Hunts in Washington.” He was a Wisconsin senator who made claims against those whom he suspected of being Communists or Communist sympathizers.

Republicans willingly used the fear of the people to take control of congress and the government. Once people were accused of being a communist they would have to testify in front of organizations such as the House of Un-American Activities Committee. This committee would do what ever necessary to prove someone guilty. They would use the smallest evidence against u to prove you guilty. Despite someone being able to claim their Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination, the accused would lose their jobs. All the people that the were accused of being communist were put on black lists created by the House of Un-American Activities Committee. One of the most popular of these lists was the Hollywood ten lists. It contained a list of some screen writers who went against HUAC in 1947. Important industries in the United States of America contained some of these black lists of people who were believed to be communists or communist sympathizers. Because of that fact anybody on these black lists could not get a real job to support them. The people on these black lists were accused of being communists based on no real solid information that the United States government really had. About 20 percent of the people affected were college faculty or graduate students. (Anne Marie Hacht and Dwayne D. Hayes 3) By the republicans having control of Washington this would ironically be the end of McCarthyism. He was unable to make up tales of communist

McCarthyism arose in the 1950s. “It originally intended to criticize the anti-communist views of U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy. People were afraid of Communism influencing America 's companies and the Soviet Union spying on them. It took on a more broad but similar meaning over time and was eventually used to describe an unsubstantiated accusation of someone.” ("McCarthyism")

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 accused were then the subject of belligerent and intense investigations and questioning before government or private-industry committees and agencies. This ability of accusing people became known as McCarthyism. McCarthyism is the making of unfair allegations or using unfair investigative techniques, especially to restrict dissent or political criticism (Dictionary.com). McCarthyism came about once World War II ended and the cold war began as the US and the Soviet Union were still allies. Many people are still unaware of the impact and in fact how many people were affected by the McCarthy era and Senator Joseph McCarthy's accusations.

McCarthyism is the practice of accusing someone, in this case being a communist, with little to no evidence. McCarthyism began when Wisconsin senator, Joseph McCarthy, claimed he knew 205 members of communist parties that worked for the United States Department of State. The 205 alleged communists were investigated by the House of Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) with very little evidence. This became a popular practice during the Cold War because Americans were extremely worried that America would become a communist country. HUAC investigated every rumor related to communism. The people most affected by this practice were the ones working in Hollywood; filmmakers, producers, film writers, and actors. HUAC believed that films were an easy way to promote communism which meant that many of them were blacklisted because of suspicion. When this occurred, getting a job became difficult. McCarthyism was an unfair practice that caused trouble to many

Most feared a communist America so in turn hated communism. Some people embraced communism and thought it would do America good. Others probably did not care what happened. There was one American undoubtedly against communism. This American would go any lengths to capture communist. His name was Joseph McCarthy. McCarthy would take people in he suspected of communism or having ties to it and question them. He would try to force people into either confessing or falsely accusing someone else. He would take people from their homes, jobs, and families just because they might have been at a party with one person who was under slight suspicion of being a communist. He started what is called McCarthyism. McCarthyism is accusing someone of subversion or treason without sufficient evidence. It would be safe to say most Americans did not like McCarthy. Those Americans were probably hoping for the fall of communism just so McCarthy would get off of their

In 1950, a hysteria created by the fear that Communists were infiltrating American soil and American’s lifestyle was called the “Red Scare.” This was fueled by the idea that Communism was very harmful and could destroy a society. Many people were scared by the idea of communism, considering people were not able to own land, the government controls the economy, and equally distributed wealth among all people. These ideas were very freighting to wealthy Americans, influential politicians, and business leaders because they were worried about loosing their wealth and status. Another reason why communism was such a scary threat is because you cannot differentiate a Communist from a normal American. It was different from fighting the Japanese or Germans where they were distinctly the enemies. Communists were the same as every other American, except they did not believe in a Democracy, but instead a Communist Society. Communism was a virus that was spreading rapidly without a known cure or source. Your best friend, neighbor, or even family members could be involved or influenced by Communist ideas without

McCarthyism is the unjustified accusation that claims someone is a Communist. The term originated from “The Second Red Scare” that took place in the United States between 1950 and 1954. During this period Sen. Joseph McCarthy claimed to have a list of 205 people that were allegedly communist or communist sympathizers. The fear of the Communists spread throughout the U.S. and no one stood up to McCarthy. This silence allowed McCarthy to gain traction and eventually thousands of people were at a loss for a job at minimum. Nearly 300 in the film industry were out of work because of the unofficial “Hollywood Blacklist”. FInally, in 1954 McCarthy was put on trial and his public image declined. On December 2, 1954 the

McCarthyism most often seen in America during the period of time from 1950 to 1956, otherwise known as the “Second Red Scare” (and has been found throughout America during all the wars from World War I where people were frightened because of spies once America joined in that war, World War II for fear of Nazi supporters, and The Cold War for Communist supporters), where people were often accused of being Communists, harbouring Communists, interacting with known Communists, etc. This led to scares in even the most desolate of places with the fear that someone might just randomly accuse you of being a Communist and have you become a subject of aggressive investigators.

Anti-communism became the vision of Unites States which later they called it McCarthyism. Every American was against communist which lead to violence and a lot of lying. People started to accuse people that they are communist and either they got killed or was sent to prison. People took advantage of this and started to accuse people they disliked. For example if someone pissed

McCarthyism, as I mentioned before, is “the practice of accusing someone of being a Communist and therefore avoiding or not trusting them” (Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, 2013) and was developed in the U.S. from 1950 until 1956. This practice appeared in the period after the Second World War when an important part of American society began to fear that Communism was expanding within the U.S. These facts happened just after the imminent consolidation of the two blocks of countries that participated in the Cold War: the Western Bloc formed by the United States, its NATO allies and others; and the Eastern Bloc formed by the Soviet Union and its satellite states. Consequently, a campaign to eliminate the danger of Communism began and the American Congress passed two laws to prevent it: the law of Internal Security (in 1950) and the law of Immigration and Nationality (in 1952), which restricted Communist activity and prohibited the entry of recognised pro-Communist people into the country. The political and moral leader of this movement was, as it is known, Senator McCarthy, which gave a theoretical basis in order to develop the thesis that conjectured that American defeats in foreign policy could only be explained by the infiltration in the State Devices of Communist spies and agitators, as well as their supporters, who strategically sabotaged the operations they had planned to achieve the victory over the Soviet Union. The undisputed Republican victory in the Presidential Elections from 1952 led McCarthy to the chairmanship of the powerful Anti-American Activities Committee, which allowed him to complete a series of investigations into the behaviour of certain suspected Communists employees in public entities throughout 1953. (ANON, IES Sabuco. Translated,