Analysis Of A Decade Of Fear By Sam Roberts

Sam Roberts in the article “A Decade of Fear” argues that McCarthyism turned Americans against each other. Robert supports his claim by illustrating fear, describing betrayal, and comparing it to other U.S. internal conflicts. The author’s purpose is to point out a vulnerable period in American history in order to demonstrate that Americans felt prey McCarthy’s negative propaganda. The author writes in a cynical tone for an educated audience. I strongly agree with Robert’s claim. McCarthyism caused Americans to turn against each other because individuals were becoming unemployed, fear of nuclear war, and everyone was questioning the government’s loyalty.

Clearly, McCarthyism resulted in individuals becoming unemployed to turn Americans against

In Roberts’ view, “At the height of his power in 1953, McCarthy became chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations and used the platform to make further charges of Communist spying.” (Roberts 21). Particularly, this shows the secrets the government has been hiding which leads to Americans questioning their loyalty. Moreover, this ties into Americans betraying each other because it goes to show how McCarthyism held the power to enact this action. The government 's mischievous actions led everyone not to trust them. Another reason McCarthyism was a leading cause of questioning the government’s loyalty is because of the various investigations that were held. In fact, Sam Roberts agrees when he writes, “ It was his clash with the Army that would lead to his downfall. Early in 1954, McCarthy and his counsel,Roy M. Cohn, were accused of improperly using their influence to get preferential assignments for a former McCarthy aide, David Schine, who had been drafted into the military.” ( Roberts 22 ). Conversely, this shows that once McCarthy attained himself to the government, everyone refused to trust the