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The Cold War was a significant period that describes the relationship between the United States and Soviet Union during the period of WW2. Several decades the Cold War strongly influenced the world and in particular Australia and the United States. The period between 1945 and 1980 was a period of unrest when many significant world crisis; The Cuban missile crisis, Vietnam and the Berlin Wall occurred. After World War 2 the United States and the Soviet Union were seen as the world’s strongest nations and the Soviet had gained control over Eastern Europe and Eastern Germany. The United States, Britain and France controlled Western Europe and West Germany. However the SU was a communist country and the US was a capitalist country

After World War II, within the year of 1947 began America’s Communism paranoia: McCarthyism. It started when President Truman was criticized about congress “not being tough enough in containing communism”, therefore wanting more information about the executive-branch employees. Congress then commenced a deep inspection of Hollywood. Congress accused actors/actresses, filmmakers, directors, and so on, thus holding Hollywood communist hearings which were held by the House Un-American Activities Committee. The group of screenwriters and directors known as the “Hollywood Ten” originated from the audit in which they publicly protested for the right of freedom of speech, right of assembly, and freedom of association. The result was the Hollywood’s

After the end of World War II, the culture of the world underwent a drastic change. In the United States, the postwar era brought many social and political crises including the Second Red Scare, the Cold War, a rise in television as a “determinant in the culture industry”, and a means for “a spread in advertisement” (Zipes 4). The 1950s brought an intense fear of communism to the American people due to the conflict with the Soviet Union that led to the Cold War. During the Second Red Scare, the United States government, driven by the fear of communism, repressed those who were suspected to be communists, even if there was little evidence against them. The rise of television and advertising allowed for the spread of these fears, and the fear of communism along with the pressure of the 1950s to conform

In the Newsweek Magazine, the October 12, 1953 issue has an article titled “U.S shifting its Diplomacy under Shadow of Red’s H-Bomb”. Media coverage during the years of Communism and McCarthyism have shown how media uses forms of writing skills and the power of language to influence audiences. Red Scare was the hysteria over the perceived threat posed by communist in the U.S as the cold war between Soviet Union and the U.S intensified. Also it was a period of time in the early 1950’s when Senator Joseph McCarthy attempted to expose suspected communists. The press presents information and their usage of writing and language skills such as selection/slanting and broadcasting of local news to benefit themselves, which does not fulfill their purpose.

“About thirty-thousand people were employed by the American film industry in 1947. Of these, the best estimate is that about three-hundred were or had been Communists” (Eyman). This statement gives an idea about how many estimated people were actually Communists. Although, there were many more who were greylisted which is why this such an important event. If there were only three-hundred people who were affected this wouldn’t be as big of a deal.

American historian, Andrew J. Falk, author of the book Upstaging the Cold: American Dissent and Cultural Diplomacy, 1940-1960, surveys how anti-Communists in America employed the blacklist and censorship to silence dissent, especially in American foreign policy. Falk argues that, “So much of what had taken place in political culture up to this time [1947] – the crucible of the Second World War, the post war progressive movement, the containment of Hollywood progressives, the movement of dissent to early television - - all served as prelude for the contest over American cultural diplomacy.”

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.

During the 1940’s the Motion Picture Association made a chilling statement in response to the blacklisting of those in Hollywood due to the red scare: “We will forthwith discharge…without compensation those in our employ…we will not knowingly employ a communist or a member of any party…which advocates the overthrow of the

American anticommunism stems from a history of fear, and want of control over individuals, and groups of people who are defined as “others”. In this case “others”, is a term attributed to American citizens who were a part of, or held any relation or affiliation with the American Communist Party. Before them, it was immigrants; and before them it was African Americans, and Native Americans (Schrecker, 13). This fear and want of control over the American Communist Party, which immediately started after WWI in America, during the Red Scare of 1919-20; was used by the Republican and Democratic Parties, and their constituents, to gain and hold support in the United States government, and to attempt to shape American domestic and foreign policy

The Cold War began during World War II when the U.S. were allied with the Soviet Union to fight against the Axis powers. During that time distrust grew between these two nations. America had always been wary of the communism that was present in Russia and also were “concerned about Russian leader Joseph Stalin’s tyrannical, blood-thirsty rule of his own country” (History.com). On the other side, “the Soviets resented the Americans’ decades-long refusal to treat the USSR as a legitimate part of the international community as well as their delayed entry into World War II”, which caused many Russia deaths (History.com). The United States thought that the best defense against the Soviets was containment.

Throughout the 1940s and 1950s America was overwhelmed with the concerns about the threat of communism. According to an PBS.org article it states a young Senator named Joseph McCarthy made a public accusation that more than two hundred “card-carrying” communists had infiltrated the United States government. Though eventually his accusations were proven untrue, and he was censured by the Senate for unbecoming conduct (PBS.org). People suspected of communism were put on a Blacklist and if you were on this list you were despised and lost your job. Also after the whole thing was over it was still hard for people to get jobs, because they were at one time on the Blacklist.

5 Anticommunism, as it would have been at the time of writing, was unity against a common enemy. Many current events are confusing and multi layered, the media need a ‘baddy’ to simplifiy stories to the masses so the advertisers and elites can get their policies and views across.

There were different levels of this movement, yet all had a singular consensus: to eliminate the danger of American Communism. Some were more hostile than others, such as moderates who were willing to kill Communist Party members. Most people who were “Communists” were not fully aware of what the term meant, believing it was about peace and racial equality. “Most of these men and women were idealistic individuals who had not anticipated that there political activities would get them into trouble years later, when anticommunism came to dominate American politics” (Schrecker). These innocent individuals were falsely accused leading to loss of jobs and lives. McCarthyism was so widely supported that it spread throughout different parts of the U.S. all the way to the west coast where it made an even bigger

After situations with the working class and trying their best to find a means to agree in the US fear of their capitalistic government brought a red flag. The world was on the doorsteps of another World War and with the countries like Germany and Russia being the biggest threat and being countries under the leadership of Communism was enough to put the US on red alert. The media played a major role in the rising fear and hatred for anyone who was a member of the Communist party or anyone they believed could be a member. Erecting large amounts of propaganda in the name of getting the American people behind the idea of abolishing Communism and doing their best to keep it out of their country. Anyone who was suspicious of another person being a member or even a spy for a Communist country was reported to their local police department and they were either detained by the police or if enough evidence was brought up even the FBI was involved in forcibly removing there people from the

To start, one must understand the concept of the cold war. The term cold war refers to a state if political hostility between countries by threats, propaganda and other measures but not as open warfare. In other words it was a war by proxy. In this case, the period known as the ‘cold war’ can be attributed to the relationship primarily between the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist republics, otherwise known as the USSR, and their satellite states from 1917 to 1990, although some may argue that