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Senator Joseph Mccarthyism And The Red Scare

705 Words3 Pages

McCarthyism represents a period of mass hysteria, fearmongering, and demagoguery. It differs a little from the Trump era, yet both are similar in the aspect of manipulating public opinion to undermine democracy. Joseph McCarthy used communism as a way to feed into mass hysteria; Donald Trump wants to use immigrants in the same way. They wanted to amass a lot of power and be the sole perpetrator who wields it. They avoided accountability as long as they could from the judicial branch, the media, and anyone who disagreed with their interests. We can pinpoint when McCarthyism gained traction. According to The Unfinished Nation, “In February 1950, while delivering a speech in Wheeling, West Virginia, Senator Joseph McCarthy lifted up a sheet of paper claiming to …show more content…

People didn’t know who to trust and by accusing other people of being communists, it would give him a form of protection if they ever accused him of being a communist spy. But the Red Scare, as it came to be known, was not only promoted by Sen. McCarthy, but involved the FBI: “When the Supreme Court started to make anti-Communist prosecutions more difficult, the bureau (FBI) embarked on COINTELPRO, a secret program of political sabotage, unauthorized surveillance, and disinformation designed to cripple the Communist party and, later, other radical groups as well” (Schrecker 24). McCarthyism created an environment where it was acceptable to break the law to get convictions even if the convictions were false. The FBI were quick to accuse people of being communists to divert attention from the laws the FBI broke, and it wasn’t until the 1970s where it became widely known. Even though people believed McCarthy’s accusations “McCarthy had no evidence that any of the people he referred to were communists; and, in fact, he tended to qualify his initial charges and fling new ones” (Schrecker

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Similarities Between The Red Scare And Mccarthyism

584 Words | 3 Pages

In McCarthy’s speech in Wheeling, West Virginia, he mentions how there were communists throughout the government. He targeted those treated well by the Nation, such as the wealthy and white-collar workers. Attacking people born with silver spoons in their mouths, those who are born privileged, and claiming the ones in the government are Communists increases the amount of fear the Americans had that communism was spreading. Despite McCarthy’s accusations that these people were communists, he never provided evidence that supported his claim. McCarthy’s “witch hunt” for Communists, also known as McCarthyism, was a movement he used to make himself more powerful and to discredit the Truman

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McCarthyism era was this huge idea of creating terror and frenzy by accusing most of the people of being involved in an "unwelcome" repetition, and making deals like letting them go in exchange for turning in friends, family members, and acquaintances. Senator Joseph McCarthy worn with an accused communist stating, "Senator, have you no shame" (Miller 1995; 111; Schrecker 1994; 93). In these cases, fear, philosophy and suspicion threatened to destroy the "community" of people and put in its place a tyrannical lead. People then started looking away from each other and questioning and trying to find out if they have a communist ideology. This gave so much tense and stress to the

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1368 Words | 6 Pages

The government, including McCarthy, wanted more power also at this time. It all was a big mess. It seemed like McCarthy wanted the power more than everyone else. So he started to try and take control of things. If he thought that a person was a communist then he would call them out and take almost everything from them even if they were not communists.

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Compare And Contrast The Red Scare And Joseph Mccarthyism

347 Words | 2 Pages

In the 1940 's and 1950 's, an anti-Communist movement swept the United States of America. Fueled by the anti-Communist actions of Congress, particularly a Senator from Wisconsin by the name of Joseph McCarthy, the movement escalated and many people lost their jobs as a result of various blacklists. Congressional hearings, both in front of HUAC and McCarthy Senate committee were a study in organized persecution. The actions taken during the "Red Scare" were eventually given the general name McCarthyism. McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of subversion or treason without proper regard for evidence.

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1711 Words | 7 Pages

McCarthy manipulated the media, told outrageous stories about the communist conspiracy in the United States, and used his power and America’s fear to besmirch any opponents as “communist sympathizers” to make sure he remained at the top. Actually, most conservative members of Congress supported McCarthy because it helped them gain votes during elections. The majority of McCarthy 's movement attacked liberals and members of the Democratic Party and this aided anyone who was not part of those topics and organizations. Then McCarthy began to target the Army because they wouldn’t favor David Schine, one of his former investigators, who had been drafted in. “Senator Joseph McCarthy began hearings investigating the United States Army, which he charged with being ‘soft’ on communism.

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Fear Of Corruption In The Crucible By Arthur Miller

807 Words | 4 Pages

McCarthy created the uproar of having a ‘witch hunt’ on communists in America. His influence on the people gave him credibility when he accused those innocent people. “He cited 81 cases that day. He skipped several numbers, and for some cases repeated the same flimsy information. He proved nothing, but the Senate called for a full investigation.”(ushistory.org).

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Mccarthyism: The Rise Of Communism In The 1950s

185 Words | 1 Pages

McCarthyism turned Americans against each other after WWII by claiming that Communists had infiltrated many areas of American life and government. In fact, “According to a local newspaper McCarthy dropped a bombshell: ‘The State Department is infested with Communists,” (para 3). In other words, this is the beginning of McCarthy turning Americans against each other. Paranoia started to spread through America which all this strongly affected Americans everyday life. McCarthyism was a result of American fear of communism in the 1950s.

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799 Words | 4 Pages

“In a narrow sense McCarthyism is the name given to the attitudes and practices of Senator Joseph McCarthy (1908-57) and his followers engrossed in investigating and purging purported security risks, especially those supposedly with ties present or former, actual or imagined, to Communist groups and governments during the late 1940s and early

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On February 9, 1950 Senator Joseph McCarthy first grabbed the attention of the public by claiming that he had a list of 57 cases of Communism. McCarthy had no actual evidence to

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The Soviet Union was on the verge of a nuclear war, so McCarthy put fear in everyone because no one had any idea who was a communist and who was not. He made everyone afraid to trust people, even the friends other had. They were afraid that they would be accused

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Mccarthyism In The Early 1950's

229 Words | 1 Pages

In the early 1950’s, McCarthyism spread as a result of allegations, which ended up turning Americans against each other. Politicians across the United States made anti-communism the centerpiece of their identity after the second world-war which led straight into the Cold War. With the Cold War fueling America, it gave rose to McCarthy, a senator from Wisconsin. What made McCarthy famous was that he, who out of all people, said allegations claiming that two-hundred and five people were in the Communist Party and who were shaping the policy in the state department. The reason in which made McCarthy so believable is a result of what happened in the year prior.

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Summary Of A Decade Of Fear

723 Words | 3 Pages

Although, a majority of these rumors were falsely misinterpreted and untrue. One reason for this was because of guilt and the need to protect oneself. According to the article, “A Decade of Fear”, it states, “It catapulted McCarthy to national prominence overnight, and eventually made his name a synonymous with a decade-long period of investigations-- labeled “witch hunts” by his critics-- to uncover Communist infiltration in American life,” (Robert). The events frightened Americans senseless, making them take action. If there were false accusations, citizens knew they would be locked away in prison, even though they were guilty of no crimes.

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Joseph Mccarthy Red Scare

784 Words | 4 Pages

The modern-day witch-hunt, also known as the McCarthy trails, were held by Joseph McCarthy, a United States senator. A few years after World War II and during the Cold War, there was speculation of communism in America; this was the beginning of the red scare. This is also when the media started playing a bigger role in everyone’s life. This is what led to the definition of McCarthyism, which states in the dictionary, “A vociferous campaign against alleged communists in the United States government and other institutions carried out under Senator Joseph McCarthy in the period 1950–54. Many of the accused were blacklisted or lost their jobs, although most did not in fact belong to the Communist Party.”

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509 Words | 3 Pages

As the textbook states, McCarthyism was “best practiced by Senator Joe McCarthy, remained strong in the early 1950s as the figures such as the cross-dressing FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, Bobby Kennedy, and Richard Nixon scored political points by accusing rivals of being “soft” on communism and thus not loyal Americans” (LP 257). For McCarthy`s part, he threw wild charges that the media and public ate up. As the textbook states, “McCarthy, shockingly, accused General George Marshall being disloyal and during the 1952 campaign, Eisenhower-a longtime colleague of Marshall-did not even defend his friend for fear of upsetting McCarthy- undoubtedly the most cowardly act

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1197 Words | 5 Pages

At the time, McCarthy was a first-term senator from Wisconsin who had won election in 1946 after a campaign in which he criticized his opponent’s failure to enlist during World War II while emphasizing his own wartime heroics. There were fears of a nuclear holocaust based on the knowledge that the Soviet Union exploded its first A-bomb in 1949. That same year, China, the world 's most populous nation, became communist. Half of Europe was under Joseph Stalin 's influence, and every time Americans read their newspapers, there seemed to be a new threat. All of these factors combined to create an fearful and dreadful atmosphere, which provided a ripe environment for the rise of committed anti communist, Joseph McCarthy, who for many Americans was “the most enduring symbol of this ‘Red Scare’”(“Joseph R.”).

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