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Mccarthyism on communism
Mccarthyism on communism
Mccarthyism and the civil rights movement
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The people who had a strong belief of the devil and were very religious. The outside threats that were surrounding the people of Salem had created a fear and suspicion within the town. Then eventually the people in Salem realized their mistakes. McCarthyism arose in the 1950s. It originally intended to criticize the anti-communist views of U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy.
During the Red Scare there was an enormous amount of McCarthyism, accusing people with no evidence; this explained best, “Joseph McCarthy thought that it was his duty to get rid of communists in Washington”(Kraine).”Worries that the Soviet Union 's communist ways would infiltrate the United States led to a significant amount of paranoia within the American government” (“Why”).Senator Joseph McCarthy was
During his speech he also provide a list of 205 people who in the Security States are working for the communist party, but still working in State Department. Afterward he launched a crusade against the subversives that eventually help him to gain popularity. By 1952, McCarthy became the Government Committee on Operation of the Senate. Over the next few year, McCarthy used his newfound power to look for the subversives. All of his accusations were based on reckless reasoning.
In the 1950s Senator Joseph McCarthy created pandemonium by trying to expose communists and other threats of disloyalty to the government. Joseph McCarthy was a Wisconsin senator whose name was given to the 1950s time period: McCarthyism. Until 1954, McCarthy was a feared and powerful man in politics and caused anyone who had opposing political views to lose their jobs and reputations. The mass fear McCarthy created in the United States became known as the Red Scare and quickly led to a sense of distrust across the country. Joseph McCarthy, the youngest member of the senate, frightened the United States by creating paranoia by falsely accusing U.S. citizens of being communists.
Although Mccarthyism has become obsolete, Anti-Communism was still very relevant at the time. He put an everlasting effect that made the Communist party banned from the US. Companies and states demanded loyalty tests from employees that lasted until the 1960s. Those that were blacklisted by McCarthy remained in that list for many years. Although McCarthy put so much emphasis on Communism and having false accusations of some people, it proved and made people aware of how much damage the Soviets could have done.
The Final Set of Essential Questions 1. McCarthy received strong public support for his actions in the 1950s because he was anti-communist and believed to be ridding the U.S of evil communists. The Cold War was just beginning and the Soviet Union was combatting America through science, third-world countries, and world influence. Americans at the time were experiencing the Second Red Scare in which many feared communism in politics and culture. This was also known as “McCarthyism” because as a symbol of anti-communism and as a U.S Senator, for 5 years he exposed communists in the U.S government and convinced citizens that there were spies and infiltrators in the system.
Arthur Miller used his novel to make people aware of communism and what was happening during that time period. Their might have been a small difference between McCarthyism and The Salem Witch Trials but a very small difference. But they still talked about the same idea and were focused on eliminating the enemy. As a result of the recent increase of the Cold War and the spread of communism throughout the world, domestic (mental disorder where you believe people want to hurt you) concerning communist invasion increased. This laid the foundation for the (acts of asking questions and trying to find the truth about something) of the House Un-American Activities Committee.
McCarthyism had a multitude of reasons as to why it turned many Americans against each other after WWII. Within the article, “A Decade of Fear” by Sam Robert, the events leading up to McCarthyism, and events after, are thoroughly explained to showcase the effects on civilization in America. In Robert’s view, “...many Americans were inclined to believe the worst, even without evidence” (9). Joseph McCarthy scared Americans by claiming he knew of 205 Communists working in the State Department after WWII. Later on, he had reported that he only knew of 57 Communists instead of 205, but never publicly released any evidence to back up his claim.
Have you ever been accused of something you did not do? Unfortunately, this circumstance happened during the second Red Scare of the 1940s-1950s. Joseph McCarthy is the leader of this movement and the founder of McCarthyism. McCarthyism, the act of accusing high government officials of being a part of the Communist Party. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller dramatizes the Salem witch trials through allegory with fearful and miserable tones to illustrate to his audience that hysteria can change one’s actions towards others around them, further explaining the political allegory he creates to show McCarthyism.
The government passed the Smith Act, an act that allowed anyone who had “intentions to overthrow the government” (Thomas L. Telford, 2009), which gave the government authority to arrest Communists. The McCarran Act, also known as the Internal Security Act, was also passed. This act required organizations and their members to register as ‘communist-action’, ‘communist-front’, or ‘communist-infiltrated’. By 1952, the federal crusade against Communism had caused seven leaders of the Washington State party to be arrested and accused of plotting the overthrow of the government. Although they all presented ample proof that they had never openly advocated a coup, six of the seven were convicted and sent to jail.
In the 1950s, Senator Joe McCarthy from Wisconsin was able to strike fear into the heart of the United States by exaggerating the possible threat of communism. Using his anti-Communist speeches, he was able to convince a large portion of the United States to be afraid of communists, and eventually start to hunt them down. He began falsely accusing public figures and practically anyone who he considered “un-American” of being communists. The people who were framed as communists could not prove that they were innocent, therefore they were doomed if incorrectly suspected. If someone was labeled this way, they could be fired from their job, and followed with heavy surveillance.
(Victims of McCarthyism). This was an obviously unpopular
While McCarthy was in office he would accuse people of being communist and would then have those people arrested. Many people spoke out against McCarthy because his accusations were pretty ridiculous. I strongly think McCarthy used his power of being a senate wrongly. He basically put people in jail for no reason at all. He put them in jail all because they believed everyone should be treated equal, and some of the people he had arrested he wasn’t even positive they were
McCarthyism is defined as a “political attitude characterized chiefly by opposition to element held to be subversive… especially on the basis of unsubstantiated charges”. The term was coined by in 1950 by Herbert Block, a political cartoonist. Many historians attribute McCarthyism to a period of time that largely took place in the 1950’s, due to the popularization of McCarthyist tactics by Senator Joseph McCarthy at that time. However, McCarthyism cannot be contained in one decade, as the behaviors linked to it are present in most walks of life. A form of McCarthyism can be seen in the way children behave.
During the height of the Cold War, Americans were extremely fearful of Communism. Like how witches were construed in Salem, Communists were viewed as an omnipresent threat to the country. In both instances, neither was widespread, but fear caused people to act as if they were true dangers. It led people in both instances to accuse others, without evidence, of witchcraft or Communism. In the McCarthy Trials, the outcome had already been decided: the person was a Communist.