Joe Mccarthyism In The 1920's

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. Overall, the main reason why the people of the United States were persuaded

Once the Industrial Revolution started, the country was in need of workers due to the increased amount of jobs. Company owners began exploiting the workers, forcing them to work extremely long hours in dangerous and labor intensive positions. If the workers refused to comply, most of them would then lose their jobs and someone else in need of work could take over. This led to the development of labor unions by these workers. Eventually the employees were able to gather enough people to have power to stand up to their bosses and company owners. They were able to demand that they worked less hours in a day or else they would go on strike. The people in charge eventually had to yield to the union’s requests because they needed the labor to keep their industries going. Many people associated the wants of the labor unions with being a demand for a communist rule in America. Because the workers were asking for safer conditions and shorter hours, others saw this as a communist request because that would result in everyone getting paid and treated the same without individuality. This was the beginning of Americans becoming skeptical of communism, and it led to the start of the country’s anxiety and distrust of it. Many would say that this first red scare is part of the reason that McCarthy was successful in convincing the United States into believing that communism was to be feared. This suspicion began before McCarthy’s influence began to grow, but he was able to exploit it in order to get the people to believe him. In Chamedes’s book review, "Little "Red Scares": Anti-Communism And Political Repression In The United States,” the author states that “the first Red Scare of 1919-1920 was not a blip in American history: rather, it was the opening salvo for decades of anticommunist, counter-subversive activity.” Chamedes’s article shows how the Red Scare is connected