The System Of The Red Scare

In the long years between 1947 and around 1957, fear of communism froze the very voices of America into unison. A supposedly enlightened country, the United States of America succumbed to the mass hysteria of the Red Scare with shockingly little resistance. Communist “Reds” and Communist sympathizing “Pinks” were seen everywhere and were often persecuted by the House Committee on Un-American Activities (also known by the inaccurate acronym HUAC). Many of these individuals’ only crime was that of sensibility; they saw the truth behind the terrifying chaos. One of the best records of this dark chapter in America’s history is its literature, which expressed opinion when it could be dangerous to do so. The American public’s paranoid fear of

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 Red Scare was a significant event in The Cold War. It was the fear of the spread of communism and America didn’t want that to happen so they issued organizations and laws to try and prevent the spread of communism (Containment Policy).

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.

“They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made” (188).

During the mid eighteenth century and the early nineteenth century the United States of America experienced some difficult times throughout the country. It first had to watch it’s own nation split apart during the Civil War, also the U.S. had just fought for it’s own independence from Great Britain not even a hundred years ago. Then shortly after the war and the reconstruction area began, later moving to the beginning of the nineteenth century, the United States witnessed the Great Depression. Another dark period in U.S. history that virtually affected every one in America at the time in both positive and negative ways. Furthermore, the group that experienced some of the challenging times, both socially and economically during the Great Depression

“The Red Scare of the 1950s, the years of Senator MCcarthy the city began condemning homes” (Normark 17.) When many social and interracial labor movements of the Left were dismantled. This was not an isolated case this was happening all over the country right before our own eyes. A 1950 far-sighted housing development of 3364 housing units proposed on a 278-acre site in the underprivileged downtown Chavez Ravine neighborhood. Elysian Park Heights, the project was intended to be the groundwork for citywide slum revitalization development. Regardless of how self-sufficient the residents of Chavez Ravine one of the more prominent Mexican American thriving communities served as a home to three Mexican Communities La Loma, Palo Verde and Bishop. Job and housing discrimination was one of the reasons the neighborhoods rallied around each other making them a thriving community. Despite of having no help from the city they had a school, church and vegetation. (Evanosky 80) Mexican families being discriminated everywhere else in the city they found refuge and decided to make Chavez Ravine their home. (Dennis Evanosky, Eric J. Kos, 80) Getting no response from the city, in spite of years asking for help to upgrade their community. The government condemn the habitat as a blighted area this changed their lives as they knew it. (80)

Modern interest in the Red Scare and the long standing efforts to balance liberty and safety in American history has brought some attention back to the topic of the Palmer Raids. The infamous nature of American anti-communist efforts may have died out but the language and ideology persists in many ways, particularly in the post 9/11 and Patriot Act era. Historians have long evaluated the Red Scare and the influence of the Palmer Raids on America’s understanding of ideological regulation. While some historians look at the influence of certain personalities like J. Edgar Hoover and A. Mitchell Palmer, others chose to write about the more abstract nature of civil rights and the controlling influence of the government. They also draw direct parallels

Red Scare as it is known is used to describe a time that had dealt with extreme anti-communism in the United States. Red comes from the color of the communists flag color of the soviet union. Scare simply comes from the fact that many people were scared that communism would come to the United States. Communism, which was commonly feared by most U.S. citizens is a system of social and economic organization in which property is owned by the state or group, to be shared in common or to be distributed among members of the community equally or in proportion to their respective needs. In 1919, 1/10 of the American population consisting of adults belonged to the new Communist movement, and even this small percentage was greatly affected.

The Red Scare was a period of time around the 1920s when Americans were very strongly opposed to, and even feared communism. Some events made Americans averse to letting foreigners from Russia into the country, such as the bombings in 1920. The device was detonated in front of J.P. Morgan on Wall Street, “killing 38 and injuring 400 others” (Corfield). Due to the deaths involved in these kinds of attacks, the people of the U.S. developed a tendency to accuse Russian communism for the killings. Citizens distrusted foreigners and thus many of these immigrants were arrested. Labor strikes also led to fear of radicals who started movements. This was followed by Attorney General Palmer’s “Palmer Raids, in which thousands of communists and other

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

The Red Scare is the most commonly known term used to describe the fear the United States felt about Communism during the Cold War. The Red Scare got it's name because Communists were often called "Reds" due to their allegiance to the Soviet flag. Many Americans were fearful of Communism making it's way to the U.S. For years the Soviet Union had spies in the U.S. These spies were of such a concern to the government that President Truman put Executive Order 9835 into effect, which called for the analyzation of all federal employees for loyalty to America. Events in the Soviet Union such as the testing of a nuclear bomb, and China becoming a communist nation only added to the fears many Americans felt. The effects The Red Scare hit home for many

The postwar Red Scare was undeniably induced by the massive fear of communism during that time period. Americans became terrified of the advancement of Soviet Communism after World War II ended. This panic was fueled by the media and film industry, as well as certain politicians, who depicted communists as villains hungry for world domination. Americans were afraid that communist countries were going to take away their freedoms if they became too powerful. This was because people in communist countries did not have the freedom of speech or religion, and were forced to work in deadly labor camps. Before, and during the war, America and the Soviet Union had been allies. After the war, it was discovered that certain federal officials had provided

The few hold power, influences, and responsibilities over many. Peter Singer argues that “if it is in our power to prevent something bad from happening” we should morally do it if it dosn’t violate any other morals. The rich cling to their assets and ignore the wellbeing of the lower class citizens. This causes a paradigm shift of power where the decisions of few impact the lives of the many. The best example of this are the titans of industry who ran America's first monopolies during the early twentieth century. They had such a tight grip on the economy that men like Rockefeller and his managers literally brought elections for mayor and senate. Having this kind of power only heightened their sense of Selfishness and as a result of natural instincts they sought to protect what they thought was rightly there's. Human nature drove them to protect resources they had accumulated over time. Furthermore, when opportunities arose for them to win extra or lose less they act in a way that would benefit them and only them. Human nature is too strong of a driving force to leave literally the power to affect a nation's economy in the hands of

Society was changing substantially within America, specifically during the World War eras. One must understand American society prior to WWI to note the significant changes that resulted in post-WWII society. Post-WWII society was dominated by the “culture of exclusion.” Essentially, the “culture of exclusion” excluded individuals from American society because of their race, class, and gender. This exclusion included people of color, lower class citizens, and women. Race was an ongoing struggle since the birth of America, and it only seemed to divide people even more so through time. People of color were excluded from American society through sharecropping, immigration restrictions, and governmental institutions. Class was altered through the New Deal, public housing, and the lack of education provided for non-whites which led to lower statuses. Finally, in terms of gender, there was a continued emphasize on the family wage system with the males as the breadwinners. They were denied their rights to work which were given to them during the World War era. This paper will outline the specific changes that occurred within race, class, and gender due to the “culture of exclusion.”