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. According to the article A Decade of Fear by Sam Roberts it states, “As his fame and power grew, so did his anti-Communist fervor. He accused government officials and politicians who opposed him,” (para 11). Sam
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
However, newly released archival materials such as the Venona intercepts show the extent of Communist subversion in pre- and post-war America. There were indeed hundreds of Communists working for Moscow, directly or indirectly, in the United States during the Roosevelt and Truman administrations. The problem that plagued Joe McCarthy was that by the time he surfaced with his accusations in the 1950’s, the key Soviet spy networks had all been closed down. For decades, many people believed that anyone who was accused of being a spy for the Soviets in the '50s was in fact just another innocent victim of the McCarthy’s witch hunt. Although it is true that McCarthy’s witch hunt did ruin the lives of innocent people, the fact is there were witches to be hunted and there had been a threat national security presented by communist spying and subversion in the 1940’s.
He had the suspected communists blacklisted. He mostly accused famous people and urged people that the individuals who should be feared were the communists. People also feared the Soviet Union during this time period Many people were accused of trying to
On August 6, 1945, the first of two atomic bombs was dropped on Japan, sparking the start of what is now known as the Cold War. Two large military powers, the Soviet communists and the United States of America, pitted their wits and defense against each other, using any means necessary to find cracks in the others’ defenses. Three days later, the second atom bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, which shook the world with its deafening death toll. The world immediately took up arms in the following years, sparking some of the most controversial years in history. Suspicion turned brothers against sisters, neighbors against neighbors, and caused many lives to be ruined.
The Red Scare quickly spread across the States as American people feared that communism would take over their country one day. The era had significant impacts on American society during the early stage of the Cold War. Shortly after the beginning of the Red Scare, a phenomenon which is known as McCarthyism appeared and shaped American politics. The anti-communist movement reached its peak in February 1950, when Senator Joseph McCarthy capitalised the fear by claiming he had a list of more than 200 communists working inside the American government.
During the time, McCarthy wasn’t a well-known senator, to which he used the societies state of paranoia to acquire fame. McCarthy was amongst numerous other people involved in schemes to benefit themselves. To this, the Republicans were involved in these cruel schemes. In attempts to seek power, the Republicans took advantage of the fear that people had. Due to the fact that the Democrats maintained control of the government for countless years, the Republicans tried to hold the Democrats accountable for the growing paranoia (“McCarthyism”).
During this time period, not long after the end of World War II, the USSR (Soviet Union) was on the rise, which led to the Cold War. The Cold War led to increased tension between the United States, and the Soviet Union due to competition and heavy conflict of interest. The involvement of the Soviet Union led to the dramatic fear of communism among the public after witnessing the horrific environment within the USSR. This helped develop McCarthyism, the idea of investigating, and accusing someone in power of being associated with communism. Joe McCarthy himself, the founder of his very ideal also gained much popularity within this time period due to many Americans fearing the rise of communist leaders and communism itself.
In the 1950’s the cold war had begun. The fear of retaliation from communists was at large. Some Americans believed that communists were amongst them plotting. This lead to a dark time in history when American opportunity became limited for many. Most rights were limited, normal life was disrupted, and the most necessary human right may have been taken.
The Red Scare was a fear of communism, this was instilled in americans because of the Cold War. McCarthyism is pertaining to Joseph McCarthy, a man that instigated this fear. It was considered to be the practice of making the problem of communism seem smaller by putting down and accusing people of being communist.
This kind of hysteria caused the Red Scare, which was a period that Americans thought communists were working to destroy America. This mass fear of communism ruined people’s lives and made them turn against their own family and friends. Joseph McCarthy played an
“McCarthyism is a mid-20th century political attitude characterized chiefly by opposition to elements held to be subversive. (McCarthyism). These accusations against other members of the state set in an underlying fear in the mass populous of the american people. This fear was instilling a feeling of distrust against the US government and one another among the american
Rod Serling, by creating the episode “The Monsters are Due on Maple Street”, Serling is trying to show an aspect of history like McCarthyism. During the episode, a lot is going on and it causes the residents to lose their sanity. The problem starts off small, and soon the whole situation is flipped from being about a power outage to blaming each other about who caused it. Lastly, the end of the show is total chaos. Much like McCarthyism which is making accusations to transform the established social order and treason without regards to evidence, the show represents that in a way that’s subtle.
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.
Throughout the film, various themes become evident; the most obvious of themes as mentioned was McCarthyism. McCarthy used the power of media to intensify the “Red Scare”, to the point that individuals began to question and judge anyone who they believed to be a communist whether they were or not. Although McCarthyism ended, it left many jobless, due to accusations of communism, “ ten thousand Americans lost their jobs because of their past or present affiliation with the Communist party”. Lastly, McCarthyism lead to constant suspicion and one might say it manifested hatred between Americans. Similarly the theme of dissent goes hand in hand with McCarthyism and is also prevalent throughout the film.
The United States had appeared to be dominated by consensus and conformity in the 1950s. The fifties were the decade of reform to the better led by president Eisenhower. The economy was booming. Further, there was a rise in consumerism which resulted in a domino effect on the economy. On the other hand, issues arose during that time as well, such as the fear of communism.