What Was The Impact Of Joseph Mccarthyism

Senator Joseph R. McCarthy was born on November 14, 1908 in Appleton, Wisconsin. He became the Senate of the United States in 1946. In 1952 after being reelected he became chair of the Senate's subcommittee on investigations which was him questioning various government form. Further on in his career he discovered that 205 Communists had infiltrated the United States Department, that then lead to the “Red Scare”. The discovery of Red Scare happened on February 9, 1950. Red Scare was a nationwide witch hunt for communist out of fear which was then called “McCarthyism”. During the McCarthyism time period many american were being questioned and accused of being communist without any actual evidence. Many of these American that were being accused

Republican Wisconsin senator, Joseph R. McCarthy, was originally a quiet senator who was fairly unknown and had done nothing extraordinary previous to 1950. The senator changed all that when he delivered a speech in February 1950, in which he leveled allegations that the State Department employed numerous Communists. He claimed to possess a list of these Communist employees, although that list was never produced (Tindall, George Brown, and David Emory Shi). Senator McCarthy’s attempt to gain publicity with his outlandish accusations worked. Since the first Red Scare years before the fifties, many Americans continued to be terrified of Communists and their potential ability to corrupt and overrun America. Senator McCarthy played on these fears, and he continued to claim communism had infiltrated every aspect of America; politics, culture and all of American society. Because of the similarity of events from the first Red Scare, this time period of the early fifties in America is often called the second Red Scare. The second Red Scare in America’s history actually began in the late forties, previous to McCarthy’s emergence in 1950, and it continued on throughout the fifties lasting at least a dozen years (Storrs, Landon R. Y.) McCarthy’s short era during the second Red Scare actually lasted only four years, but because of his outspoken and arrogant persona, as well as his ability to inflict fear and persecution on innocent people, this entire span of time went down in the

Moreover, many of McCarthy’s Democratic and Republican colleagues, including President Dwight Eisenhower, disapproved of his tactics (“I will not get into the gutter with this guy,” the president told his aides). Still, the senator continued his so-called Red-baiting campaign. In 1953, at the beginning of his second term as senator, McCarthy was put in charge of the Committee on Government Operations, which allowed him to launch even more expansive investigations of the alleged communist infiltration of the federal government. In hearing after hearing, he aggressively interrogated witnesses in what many came to perceive as a blatant violation of their civil rights. Despite a lack of any proof of subversion, more than 2,000 government employees lost their jobs as a result of McCarthy’s

McCarthyism is the practice of making the accusations of disloyalty, especially of pro-Communist activity (“McCarthyism”). This term has become a byname for the defamation of character or reputation by means of widely publicized indiscriminate allegations, especially on the basis of unsubstantiated charges (Achter). During the Era of McCarthyism, the Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy manipulated and capitalized off the fear of the Red Scare by proclaiming that communist spies were present and McCarthy was America’s only salvation. Arthur Miller was brought upon the House Committee on Un-American Activities to testify against other entertainment industry. Arthur refused to reveal the names of alleged communist writers, he was found in contempt of Congress, and was blacklisted from work (“Arthur Miller Biography”).

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")

During the 1950s there was a rise in the fear of communism called “The Red Scare”. Senator Joseph McCarthy was one of the many people who contributed to people’s fear by making a list of people who he said were communists even though there was no proof in most cases. In an article by Alan Brinkley called “The 1950s Part One: McCarthy and The Red Scare”, it informs, “McCarthy was only one of many who helped create the great fear. The Red Scare was visible in almost every area of American life” (Brinkley). This quote tell us that in the 1950s even though Senator Joseph McCarthy was a huge contributor to The Red Scare. His list of suspected communists made rumors spread and the people on the list get questioned and even go to jail when in some cases they were innocent. It also says in the article by USHistory.org called “McCarthyism: Witch Hunting and Blacklisting in America”, that, “In the 1950s anyone who was considered a communist could be questioned and thrown in jail” (USHistory.org). Which means that his allegations could have easily put people in prison.

The career of Joseph McCarthy took off in 1946 when he won senate, become the youngest member in senate at the time ever. McCarthy leaned toward conservation and the ideas it withheld. He believed that not only should we protect the U.S. but we should also preserve and restore it. Not long after being elected into office, in 1950 McCarthy suspected that over 205 communist had infiltrated the U.S. Government. He also claimed to have the names of 57 state department communist. After this McCarthy realized the charges necessary, and called for a wide-reaching investigation that would be known today as what we call the “red scare”. The Red Scare was the promotion of fear of a potential rise of communism and radical leftism. In the United States,

In 1950, Joseph R. McCarthy, a senator from Wisconsin, began to accuse the current Secretary of State at the time, Dean Acheson, that he had knowingly employed communist sympathizers within his party. His attempts at rooting out any genuine Communists failed however. Either way, many Republican politicians saw the advantage this kind of attack could give them against the Democratic party. This tactic became known as McCarthyism during the Cold War. As the so-called “Red Scare” was getting worse and worse, many innocent, and some not so innocent, political faces, stars of Hollywood, and writers and/or journalists were named in an attempt to silence them. Eisenhower reluctantly ignored McCarthy, to mostly remain bipartisan, and also stay off his of his radar. His only real statement about McCarthy was him famously saying, “I will not get in the gutter with that guy.” Eventually, Joseph McCarthy managed to dig his own grave by extending his Red conspiracy to the U.S. Army. The whole scandal was televised for the whole nation to watch, as McCarthy slowly turned inside out. The Senate finally fought back and condemned him and his actions for “unbecoming of a member”. Three years later, on May 2nd, 1957, McCarthy died of chronic alcohol poisoning. However, not without leaving a long lasting legacy of being the face of one of the infamous misuses of national fear and free speech in American

McCarthyism, which occurred in the 1950s, was the practice of accusing people of being communist without

In McCarthy’s famous Wheeler speech in West Virginia, he stated he had a list of 205 names that were supposedly members of the State department that were involved with the American Communist Party. McCarthy persevered and pushed to successfully become appointed as Chairman of the Government Committee on Operations of the Senate, which was crucial in broadening the scope of his powers to investigate subversives. He questioned numerous government departments and the paranoia and fear produced from the witch-hunts and fear of subversives infiltrating America resulted in it being titled ‘McCarthyism’. McCarthy eventually began to lose his popularity and influence over America during October of 1953 due to his controversial accusations against the U.S Army. When president Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected, McCarthy’s opinions became less of a focus in Media. Many news organisations painted McCarthy as a villainous character due to his attacks on innocent people (Hyper 1).

McCarthyism by definition is the action of making accusations of disloyalty with inadequate evidence to support. This idea was introduced by Senator Joseph R. McCarthy and was a vital aspect in the U.S during The Cold War. Joseph R. McCarthy McCarthyism in a Nutshell Throughout 1950 to 1954, the people of the United States of America were terrified of the spread of communism. This was greatly known as “The Red Scare”.

Senator Joseph McCarthy took advantage of the massive nationwide fear to accelerate his own political career. McCarthy accused thousands of people, in a wide variety of different occupations, of being loyal to the Communist Party. A copious amount of the people accused of being communists suffered after losing their jobs, even though there was no evidence proving that they were communists. He also incited massive paranoia by claiming that there were Soviet spies working inside the United States government, and were working to destroy it. This, later became known as McCarthyism: “the political practice of publicizing accusation of disloyalty or subversion with insufficient regard to evidence,” as defined by the American Heritage Dictionary. Regardless of Senator McCarthy’s inability to recognize a single solitary communist in the federal administration, a few national reinforcements supplied his accusations validity with the general public. The histrionic espionage trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, in 1951, energized McCarthy’s charges. The Rosenbergs were executed in 1953 after being indicted for passing U.S. government nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union. “Also fueling McCarthy’s charges were a series of trials of American Communists between 1949 and 1955 for violation of the 1940 Smith Act, which prohibited Americans from advocating the violent overthrow of the government.

McCarthyism was important during the 1950s, because many people feared Communism. Consequently people (falsely) accused each other of being a communist and people often lost big parts of their lives, like their job. Nobody trusted each other, so without evidence people started accusing each other.

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.

Next, the people whose lives McCarthy destroyed must be looked at. In the immediate aftermath of McCarthy's speech came many accusations. America wanted the people that McCarthy said were on his list. But when asked for the list, McCarthy said he lost it, and he could not remember which individuals were on the list. But he said he did see some key Hollywood figures on it. That was when the focus shifted to all of Hollywood. If anyone thought that an actor or actress seemed suspicious, they would simply start gossip about