Who Began America's Communism Paranoia

The list accused 151 writers, directors and performers and claimed they were member of the Communist organization during World War II. The blacklist against Communists would make it significantly more difficult for a person to find employment in most industries and most likely would get a person fired just for even being interrogated or being any form of a suspect of Communism. Even a person who worked with a person accused of Communism had significantly less chance to be able to find a job. Ten stars that were most famous for standing up for themselves and pleaded the 5th amendment when asked to name Communists were known as the Hollywood ten. Their names were Herbert Biberman, Albert Maltz, Lester Cole, Adrian Scott, Samuel Ornitz, Dalton Trumbo, Edward Dmytryit, Ring Lardner Jr., John Howard Lawson and Alvah Bessie. The ten did not defend themselves because they were prideful Americans who saw their rights and the rights of others being harmed and decided to do something about, no. They were already asked if they were Communists when they went on a trip to California and they did not want to get charged with perjury. Some Americans did take action and saw that their rights were being put into question and decided to protect themselves, for example Alger Hiss who was accused and in order to solidify the fact that he was a Communist lawyers used his day to day schedule in full detail to solidify that his behaviors were that

After World War II the next threat was the Soviet Union and the growing amount of communism. The fear of communism breed the conformist 1950’s, which created suburbs, consumerism, “organization men”, domesticated women, car culture, and explicit gender rules (I&J, 43-58). Communism engulfed everyone so much that people were afraid to be different. The culture of the 1950’s was not only seen in their everyday lives but shown through advertisements.

People that worked in the army or were part of the movie industry had to answer to this question (McCarthyism).

People lost their jobs and careers went bad and even imprisonment occurred. McCarthy held hearings called the Hollywood Blacklist, which had to do with The House Committee on Un-American Activities and anti- communist activities with the FBI.

The Hollywood Ten happened in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s. The Hollywood Ten is where there was a communist influence in the American motion picture business. Screenwriters and Directors in Hollywood Known as the Hollywood Ten received jail time and were blacklisted, meaning they could not work for major Hollywood studios. The ten people include Alvah Bessie, Herbert Biberman, Lester Cole, Edward Dmytryk, Ring Lardner Jr, John Howard Lawson, Albert Maltz, Samuel Orntiz, Robert Adrian Scott, and Dalton Trumbo. These ten people denounced the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) anti-communist hearings as a violation of their civil rights.

The Hollywood Ten, for example, was a group of actors and actresses, accused in acting in movies that had communist-like material. These members were sent to prison and then blacklisted, which meant they were no longer allowed to be in movies, and they were shunned. With all of that going on, it made people start to point fingers at their own friends, families and neighbors, which would soon cause everyone to not trust anyone, which is what McCarthy wanted. Document 5 states, “And that is what I mean when I say that McCarthy’s antics are the best asset that the kremlin can have.” This statement is arguing that McCarthy wanted to get the US scared and worried about communists, that they’d start pointing fingers at everyone, claiming someone is a communist, which would soon tear the US apart because no one can trust each other; if the US is torn apart, it’s good for the soviets

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.

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”)

For my arcival project I chose to research the Hollywood Ten, I chose this because I am fascinated by the events of that occurred around this time and group. The Hollywood Ten was a group of writers, directors, and other artists who bravely refused to answer questions in front of the House of Un-American Activities and were therefore sentenced to jail time and banned from working in Hollywood. The actions of that the House of Un-American Activities and the resistance of the Hollywood Ten raised attention and a debate across the country about the actions that the government was taking against Hollywood artists.

Imagine this, what would it be like to end up in jail because of a rumor? That is what happened during McCarthyism and the Red Scare, people were arrested for rumors of being communist and put in jail when they really weren't. The authors of USHistory.org mentions how the government steps up in the investigations. In this article the authors are talking about how they stepped up their role in the investigation. It states, “The U.S Congress created a committee that sought to find “Un-American activities” in the hollywood film industry” (USHistory.org). The U.S Congress thought there were “Un-American” things happening in the hollywood industry so they created a committee to investigate more. The people who were accusing others of being communists were allowed to go free. With all of this happening it caused others to get fired from their jobs in local governments. Another article states, “McCarthey later gave Congress the name of the State Department employees the he claimed were traitors” (McCarthey). McCarthy used this to scare the people, he then took advantage of it, and turned in the traitors to Congress. Not long after the government acted on the list of traitors which led people to getting fired or jailed. These articles are very similar because of the many rumors causing deaths, and problems with other people.

Over the course of the history of the United States of America, there have been numerous threats from various international countries. And with these numerous threats come different responses from the United States. Such as the French and the British during the 1790s, the U.S. government created the Alien and Sedition Acts The U.S. also had conflict with the British over the territory of Oregon,which ended in the creation Oregon Treaty. Later during World War 1, the U.S. , under President Woodrow Wilson, declared neutrality at the beginning of the war but were very straightforward that is the Germans continued the engaging in unrestricted submarine warfare against American ships supplying goods to Allied nations would result in an American Declaration of War. Over time the U.S. has become more upfront and stern with their reactions to threats from international nations. And it expanded to post 1945, when there was an impeding spread of Communism in the United States. And the way the the U.S. responded was similar to the their past course of response.

During the days of the Hollywood Red Scare, Reagan actively partook in the politics of the film industry. One to be at the forefront of progress, he held the title of chairman within the Screen Actors Guild. In 1947, he was a sort of snitch for the FBI and transferred the names of possible leads for Communist members or sympathizers. Since this cooperation, the FBI took an interest in Reagan’s career and personal safety.

The individuals, who were persecuted during what is now referred to as the “McCarthy Era,” had their once prominent careers destroyed. They lost their friends and family, and all based on untrue rumors which were spread about them, such as planning to start a revolution and attempt to overthrow the Government of the United States. At no time did the Communist Party have the manpower or financial resources to do anything more than a small demonstration and no party member from Hollywood gave serious thought to even that idea.

Hmm...did communism pose a threat to america? Let me begin by telling you about communism.

Accusations became ridiculous to the point that ten Hollywood writers, due to Hollywood being considered a “hotbed of communism,” were investigated and arrested for exercising their basic human rights. (pg. 1028) McCarthy fed off of the growing fears of Communist spies by charging that Communists had invaded the State Department. (pg. 1029) He grew support for his “witch hunt,” an attempt to weed out Communists in the State Department through questionable means.