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Techniques Used In Letters To President Truman By Joseph Mccarthy

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Joseph McCarthy to President Harry Truman, February 11, 1950 In 1946 Joseph McCarthy a Wisconsin Republican won an election to the Senate after an extensive anti-communist campaign that preyed on the fears of a nation. After the Republicans victories President Truman a Democrat launched his own anti-communist campaign with an extensive loyalty program for federal employees. Even after the conviction of communist spy Alger Hess a state department employee McCarthy was not satisfied what followed was a witch hunt that mirrored the Salem Witch trials. In his letter to President Truman, McCarthy uses extremely bold but logical language and statements to our president in order to receive information and clout to continue his witch hunt and rise …show more content…

McCarthy used this to further his career and public standing by dragging people’s names through the mud and ending their careers. Needless to say that the issue McCarthy addresses is a highly emotional subject and needs to broach with great care. McCarthy uses good and sometimes logical fallacies to argue his point, however he also uses strong bold statements to encourage the president to give him the records he wants to continue his witch hunt in America. After listing his demands McCarthy states, “Failure on your part will label the Democratic Party of being the bedfellow of international communism. Certainly this label is not deserved by the hundreds of thousands of loyal American Democrats throughout the Nation, and by the sizable number of able loyal Democrats in both the Senate and the House” (McCarthy Par. 3). McCarthy after an entitre letter full with logical arguments hits the president with a powerful statement, “Failure on your part will label the Democratic Party of being the bedfellow of international communism” this statement of powerful emotion demands the President gives McCarthy the reports in fear of being perceived as sympathizing with the enemy. McCarthy brilliantly mention that even though that would be the perception in order not to appear over emotional he state that would be a disservice to hundreds of thousands loyal Democrats. McCarthy navigates an emotional subject with shrewd and flawed logical, but also with one resounding emotional statement as the final attempt to gain more information for his famous witch

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