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Red Scare Anti Communism

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After World War II, the fear of autocratic governments and communism spread, especially within the United States. The idea of having a restrictive leader produced fear amongst citizens, creating a sense of distrust towards neighbors or officials that might support such a faction; this anti-communism movement was known as the Red Scare. Spearheaded by Senator Joseph McCarthy, the domestic war-on-communism reached an extreme, one that took away the freedoms of this nation’s people. Americans sacrificed civil liberties and privacy in an effort to deter the totalitarian wave from taking root in their country. During the 1950s, America was on edge, as Russia’s dictator Stalin bolstered the kind of government that went against what World War II was fought for. As communism developed into a shunned philosophy, it nonetheless spread into other parts of Asia, such as Korea, China, and Vietnam. As a safeguard against its potential arrival to the United States, the American society became paranoid and …show more content…

The namesake of McCarthyism, his goal was to weed out all communist supporters. Suspected communists were arrested and interrogated. Because of his stance on the matter, he gained mass popularity. His support of the Red Scare only strengthened its cause and purpose, and reflecting such views, McCarthy’s party, the Republicans, rose in status as well. Because of this, nobody was willing to put a check on McCarthy 's methods: he helped the party and anyone against the senator would be perceived as a traitor. No regulations on his agenda meant that McCarthy was rampant on his claims, pointing his finger and calling out anyone he felt like, culminating to a list of over 200 public office holders. Eventually, McCarthy lost support for his antics. His campaign ended when he declared a few military officials as communists, whereupon other congress members finally said enough was enough and removed him from public

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Joseph McCarthy, Wisconsin senator from 1947 to 1957, was a big part of the Red Scare in America. He accused many government officials, CIA employees, and even

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After being censured by the United States Senate in 1954, Joseph Raymond McCarthy died in 1957. Admittedly Senator McCarthy led a very successful political career as Senator and chairman of the Committee on Government Operations and its Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. Sadly he left a trail of damaged individual reputations and a red stain in the history books known as McCarthyism. McCarthyism today is the term used to refer to the time when the nation faced persecution and is a reference to any mistreatment of any group. But even though a small percentage of American citizen lost jobs and two people lost their lives, the damaged reputations of thousands even millions of people who were labeled communist was the actual terrible legacy left behind.

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Sparked by an increase in communist sympathies during the Great Depression due to upset over the failure of the democratic system to assist its people in difficult times, American fear of communism reached its high point during the 1940s and 1950s. Fear of communist subversion, often called the Red Scare, reached all areas of society and resulted in paranoia throughout the United States, exemplified through both actions and events. The McCarthy hearings, led by Senator Joseph McCarthy, capitalized on the overwhelming hysteria encapsulating the United States when McCarthy claimed he had the names of communists in the government. Built on a series of lies and exaggerations, McCarthy proceeded to interrogate innocent government officials and

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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.

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In the early 1950s McCarthy, as aforementioned, would publicly speak in the state of Virginia asserting a list of of over 200 names of

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This is also clearly not true, as it has been proven that McCarthy accused others to gain political power. For example, McCarthy’s downfall was caused when he clashed with the army. Roberts claims that “McCarthy and his chief counsel, Roy M. Cohn, were accused of improperly using their influence to get preferential assignments for… David Schine, who had been drafted into the military.” (3). To sum this up, those who supported McCarthy had few rebuttals in regards to the turmoil he created in America.

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McCarthy ran for the senate again in 1946 in which he used the slogan "Congress needs a Tail Gunner" and even though he was running against the favored incumbent, Robert M. La Follette Jr. who Patrick Maney called “McCarthy’s first victim”, McCarthy prevailed the winner and became the youngest member of the Senate. During his first term of being a Republican Senator he managed to keep a low profile and worked mostly on house legislation, it wasn’t till the 1950s that McCarthy became a household

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McCarthyism resulted in Americans turning against each other because of fear of communist takeover, overbearing political power, and protecting their reputation. Clearly, Americans feared the idea of a communist takeover. One reason Americans were filled with anxiety about communist infiltration was because, “... in 1949 when Communists led by Mao Zedong took

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During the Cold War, hysteria in the U.S. ensued over the perceived threat of Communism. This mass hysteria became known as ‘The Red Scare’ due to Communist’s loyalty to the red flag. These fears were not totally unfounded, as the USSR had been spying inside America for a long time. The Red Scare became influential to world history by causing leaders to pass acts that would not have been passed otherwise that reduced the Communist Party to a shadow of its past self..

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Body Paragraph 1: Political Developments The Red Scare caused a political shift in the US as the government, in an attempt to combat the perceived threat of communism, passed several laws that restricted civil liberties. One example is the Sedition Act of 1918, which made it a crime to criticize the government. "The Sedition Act of 1918…made it a federal crime to use disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language about the government, the flag, or the armed forces," (MTSU). This law was used to suppress dissent and prosecute those who opposed the government's policies.

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In the 1950s and early 1960s, communism was America’s biggest fear. Many were afraid that the communist ideologies of the Soviet Union were a threat to the thriving capitalistic democracy of America. As communism continued to spread throughout Europe and other parts of the world, it became America’s duty to prevent the political theory from growing further and eventually reaching the western hemisphere. From 1954 to 1961, the United States established several policies to contain communism, such as the Truman Doctrine, Brinkmanship, The Interstate System, and others due to fear of communism from both the government and the general public.

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Firstly, the Red Scare was a time where the United States was extremely divided, both socially and politically, and citizens were terrified about communists spreading their ideas of communism (Foster 2). This pandamonium stemmed from ideas of McCarthyism, strong anti-communist values (Goodman 1). McCarthyism, to some, was believed to resemble totalitarianism due to “the demagoguery, smear campaigns, informers, purges of the civil service and education system; the blacklisting of writers, artists, and entertainers; and incidents of book-burning” (Goodman 1) that both had in common (Goodman 1). To combat the spread of communism and to calm the overall panic people had at the time, the government created the House Committee of Un-American Activities

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During his speech, he also “claimed to possess a list of 205-card-carrying communists” that worked for the “U.S. Department of State” (“McCarthyism / The ‘Red Scare’”). His proposition that communists were hiding in the American government increasingly worried Americans as it meant that their enemies had entered the American homeland. Years later, McCarthy was elected “chairman of [the Senate] Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations” and began investigating cases of “alleged subversion and espionage” (“Joseph R. McCarthy: A Featured Biography”). With his acquisition of the chairman role, McCarthy earned himself more influence and power in the realm of exposing

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Hunter Austin Dr. Wilkey The Red Scare of the 1950s was a period of intense political and social tension in the United States, characterized by a fear of communist infiltration and influence. Many factors contributed to this atmosphere of fear and suspicion; The rise of communism in the Soviet Union, led by Joseph Stalin, played a significant role. The Soviet Union's aggressive expansion in Eastern Europe and the establishment of communist governments in multiple countries heightened concerns about the spread of communism. Additionally, the Korean War, which began in 1950, further strengthened fears of communist aggression and the potential for a global conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union.

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By being fearful of Communism and being seen as un-American, Americans were allowing themselves to be manipulated by McCarthy. Their own fear was taking away their freedom of speech, and without freedom of speech, there is a separation from democracy, which is based on the concept of government serving the will of the people. Without a voice, there is no will of the people, and without the will of the people, there is no

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