It has been evident that America has moved “toward greater civil liberties” rather rapidly through the 20th century. The cultural shift of American lives has shown how much people were inspired by the idea of having basic civil rights. From the start of the 20th century to the end of the century, the cultural change was very monumental to lives of people and society today. It is very evident just from the past century how true James McGreevey’s quote actually is. The progressive era started on the end of the Gilded Age where Americans started to get sick and tired of oppression against farmers and factory workers. By the end of the 19th century, journalists known as muck crackers and the election of 1893 brought national and political …show more content…
Communism doesn’t seem to be that bad by definition, but the Soviet Union had a very strong control over its empire. A strong central government means that the government has even more control over people’s lives. The United States feared the spread of communism since the Soviet Union’s empire was only expanding after WWII. With the use of proper propaganda, it was possible to convince the American people that communism is an evil form of government. Not only did the U.S make Russians be seen as terrible people, but knowing how much power the Soviet Union had over its civilians translated the idea to the American people that Communism is what takes away the civil liberties of human beings. Americans were already having problems about conforming to society. People felt more threatened by Communism because if America became a Communist society, more of their civil liberties would be taken away. That is the worst nightmare for most Americans because we have been taught to strive for freedom. Americans during the Cold War felt that they were not just going against the Soviet Union, but also the idea of losing their freedom whatever they felt was