The Second Red Scare started in the opening phases of the Cold War with the Soviet Union. The Second Red Scare refers to the anti-communist passion that affected American politics, culture and society in the 1940s and 1950s. Interpretations of the Second Red Scare have ranged between two poles: one emphasizing the threat posed to national security by the Communist Party, and the other emphasizing the threat to democracy posed by political repression. Americans historically have been fearful of “enemies within.” That 's what made the Second Red Scare a big deal, the hysteria. It is true that there were some people giving information to the Soviet Union from within american borders. However, scholars debate whether or not all of the people …show more content…
However, his ignoring the truth only made him more powerful and frightening. Few dared to challenge McCarthy directly. After a while President Truman got tired of hearing about McCarthy and all of the accusations he was making. The President thought the idea of communists being in the government was silly and did not give into the hysteria like other people were. McCarthy sent a telegram to President Truman telling him that he should pick up the phone and ask Mr. Acheson how many people in the state department, that were labeled as dangerous communists, did not get discharged. His response is said to be probably unsent. But it explained that it was his first time that he has ever heard a senator trying to discredit his own government before the world and that it is not something done by honest public officials. He called his telegraph a untrue and insolent approach to a situation that should have been worked out man to man. He then went on to say that McCarthy was not fit to have a hand in the operation of the government of the United States. McCarthy created hysteria that was not necessary. He made people think that there were large amounts of communists in the government which is what created the hysteria. However people thought there were communists in more places than just the government.
Communists are everywhere. That 's what people thought. That 's what they were told. Hundreds of
The Red scare was a series of witch hunts for suspected communist sympathetic members of congress and public office holding Citizens who were supposedly “Red” this lasted from (1919-1920) started by the Bolshevik revolution in Russia. During the first war the Red Scared was represented the widespread concern that Americans had developed over the fear of communist subversion within society. The American people went into a mass hysteric frenzy over the news and many
The Red Scare 1919-1921 involved increasing fear of a potential rise in communism. This scare was fixated on the workers revolution and political radicalism sparking labor strikes distorted as crimes against society. 9/11 was a politically motivated bombing that caused hysteria. In both cases, citizens were not safe from harassment, suffered a loss of jobs, being displaced from families and many lives were lost.
The Red Scare reflected the fear of Americans which they had of communists infiltrating the US government. Sacco and Vanzetti’s arrest and execution made foreigners fear America even more, especially the anarchists. This caused worldwide dispute over whether they were given
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
His demagogue tendencies had no evidence. Document 2 is a speech made by McCarthy about communism. He says, “In less than 6 years, the odds have changed from 9 to 1 in our favor to 8 to 5 against us.” These staggering numbers of over 400 percent would certainly provoke fear among the people. He also claimed to have a list of 57 people in the state department known to be members of the American Communist Party.
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.
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.
The Red Scare took place in the late 1940’s and early 50’s during the Cold War and was an event that occurred in the U.S. The Red Scare was the episode of Americans being afraid of the spread of communism which led America to take desperate actions to stop it from spreading such as McCarthyism. One of the many things America did was make it mandatory for federal employees to be analyzed to tell if they were a communist. Another was the HUAC (House of Un-American Activities Committee)
The first red scare was in 1917 after the Bolshevik Russian Revolution . It took the United States by storm. It created a national fear of communists, socialists, and other protesters suddenly grabbed the American psyche in 1919 following a series of anarchist bombings. The nation was griped with fear. In late April 1919, at least 36 dynamite-filled bombs were mailed to a cross-section of prominent politicians and appointees, including the Attorney General of the United States, as well as justice officials, newspaper editors and businessmen, including John D. Rockefeller. Fueled unrest and the anarchist bombings, and then spurred on by Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer's attempt to suppress radical and non-radical labor organizations,
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.
What is The Red Scare? The Red Scare is fear resulting from communists wanting to control citizens. From 1919 to 1921, The First Red Scare occurred in which Americans feared the Soviet Union’s idea of communism spreading to The United States. After this panic was resolved, there was another epidemic of fear called The Second Red Scare. This lasted from 1947 to 1957 and was driven by the panic of communism growing and spreading in The United States. The Second Red Scare was perpetuated by international events and dismay such as the Korean War and fear of the Soviet Union’s nuclear weapon capabilities. From this, the House Un-American Activities Committee was formed. The committee’s purpose was to investigate alleged communists and infiltrators within the government, subcommittees, and Hollywood. “Americans also felt the effects of the Red
After the war however a kind of two-faced attitude is quickly adopted by the United States as the Berlin Crisis occurred and fear of espionage was suspected to be on the rise. (Fitzgerald, p. 32-33) This marked the beginning of the Second Red Scare, a period of time held within the Cold War itself and seen as a main cause for a very deep-rooted hate towards communism that formed a bitter taste in the mouths of the American people.
Everyone knew about it, but no one ever talked about it. The first knowledge many American's had of Communism came from Winston Churchill's "Iron Curtain Speech" (Matusow, 45). Churchill basically said in his speech that the Soviet Union was pushing forward a global Communist takeover. And Churchill also said that he believed, "We should not let such a force loose on the planet" (Matusow, 46). That was the first time many American eyes were opened to Communism, and McCarthy made sure it was not the last. The entire chaos that Senator McCarthy caused had become collectively known as "The Red Scare" (Feuerlicht, 34). McCarthy used this entire "Red Scare" idea to boost his hopes for re-election. But an elected official is supposed to be a representative of the people. All McCarthy did was abuse his power and pull the wool over the people's eyes. McCarthy did not work for the benefit of the people. He only worked for the benefit of himself.
He says he had to do extensive amounts of research to find out who these people were and justify their communist party affiliation or if they were simply just suspicious. McCarthy claimed none of his accusations were made up on the spot or said without proper evidence (McCarthy 129-131). When asked about why he went to such extreme methods to remove hidden communists from government, McCarthy claimed it was the only option he had to get the job done. He had tried going to the President and going through the Tydings committee, but they assumed that McCarthy was trying a cheap political trick in an attempt to make them look bad (McCarthy 135-136). The senator had to resort to gaining the attention of the American people and win their support in exposing members of the Communist