Ray Bradbury, a Pulitzer Prize winner, is one of the most notable authors of the 20th century. Although he wrote over 30 novels and countless of other writings, his novel, Fahrenheit 451, is his claim to fame. Fahrenheit 451 is a novel about a faux utopia without books. His novel is a critical thinking piece that criticizing censorship. Ray Bradbury’s cultural significance stems from his audacious nerve to simply release his novel.
The end of World War II should have marked a period of relief in America but instead, it lead America into a completely different type of war called the Cold War. The Cold War was an ongoing state of political and military tension between the United States and the Soviet Union. This constant state of tension and fear had been embedded deep in the American public. The American people feared the spread of communism and nuclear war in the aftermath of the Second World War, while President Eisenhower addressed these fears by having strong domestic and foreign policies.
With anti-communism being the dominant political issue during the Cold War, hysteria and paranoia spread throughout the minds of Americans. The “Enemies From Within Speech” delivered at Wheeling, West Virginia in 1950 by Senator Joseph McCarthy focused on worsening that national fear. Senator McCarthy used ethos, metaphor, and hyperbole to create the notion of disloyalty within the federal government.
The Vietnam War divided the United States into two separate categories: Hawks and Doves. Supporters of the war were known as Hawks, while pacifists were known as Doves. The Hawks believed the aggression North Vietnam displayed forced the United States into war, whereas Doves felt the civil war in Vietnam was not the United States responsibility and it was causing unnecessary costs and deaths.
Sam Roberts in the article A Decade of Fear argues that McCarthyism turned Americans against each other. Roberts supports his claim by illustrating fear, describing betrayal, and comparing it to other United States internal conflicts. The author’s purpose is to point out a vulnerable period of American history in order to demonstrate that Americans felt prey to McCarthy’s negative propaganda. The author writes in a cynical tone for an educated audience. I strongly agree with Robert’s claim. McCarthyism caused Americans to turn on each other due to fear, unawareness, and propaganda.
During the rise of World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union had been brought into an alliance due to both of their desires to defeat Nazi, Germany. Although the Soviet Union’s aggressive, antidemocratic policy towards Europe created tensions even before World War II had ended. That being said, they tolerated each other as much as they could but weren’t exactly friends. The United States government was initially hostile to the Soviet leaders for their decision to take Russia out of World War I and was opposed to a state ideologically based on communism. The main conflict between them was their inability to agree about communism. Over the next five years the relationship between the two countries’ changed
In the 1950s, Joseph McCarthy, the senator of Virginia at that time, feared communism would spread to the U.S, since it already spread to China and
When World War II ended, the United States rejoiced with what they assumed their victory would determine; total peace, the discontinuation of Communism, the return of all the dearly missed soldiers, and greater equality for all, especially in the workplace. Much to the dismay of many citizens at home during the war, these aspirations were not exactly what they expected. In the near short years right after the war, there was much prosperity and many were perfectly content, but in these years, many had difficult times with the changes that occurred after the war. With these rough times came many fears of the conditions of the country, but many of these fears were greatly calmed through the work of the President Eisenhower in the 1950s. In the
World War II was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, in which it encompassed the major nations in the world, including the United States of America. The aftermath of the war, in which the United States and its allied powers emerged victorious, should have marked a period of political tranquility. However this supposition proved incorrect, as the American ethos was ravaged by a state of political and military tension between the United States and the Soviet Union. More than a military conflict, the Cold War was an ideological war in which democracy and communism clashed. The Cold War fears of the American people, reflected in the mass hysteria behind the Red Scare and McCarthyism, was entrenched in the
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. All of these restrictions limited the American opportunity making it an age of fear and oppression rather than an age of opportunity.
The Cold War caused people to question the United States’ government’s reliability and strength, which negatively affected America’s domestic affairs and foreign policies. Citizens lost respect and trust in the government and other civilians, due to several threats within the country and worldwide. People were left questioning their rights and safety due to the second Red Scare, which threatened the coming of power of communism within America. Various forms of propaganda advertised fears, causing panic to spread throughout the country. Russia’s gain of power throughout Eurasia showed off the USSR’s strength and abilities, threatening the Western Powers. The arms race caused tensions between the U.S. and USSR, bringing them closer to the brink
Being afraid daily was common during the Cold War. This fear led to some regrettable decisions that were actually favored during the time. Arthur Miller used his storytelling to discretely show the US leadership that decisions made in fear were dangerous. Miller in his story had a quote about how “Until an hour before the Devil fell, God thought him beautiful in Heaven.” stating the the Americans may like how the situation is being dealt with but it will eventually cause terrible trouble. McCarthy was making decisions made in fear and it was hurting the US and in fact made it so that if Miller wrote his opinion without hiding it behind a story he too would have been punished and arrested. It can be assured that Miller would have just written his opinion in its raw form if McCarthyism wasn’t a factor.
To what extent did the Red Scare influence American society during the early stage of the cold war?
American Exceptionalism was coined by Alexis de Tocqueville in his book Democracy in America. To illustrate how the American way of thought is superior to the other ways of the world, Tocqueville expresses that the American way of thought is distinctively unique and special. This distinction is exemplified through liberty, egalitarianism, individualism, populism, and Laissez-Faire Economics. These qualities prove America’s exceptionality and difference from other countries. Although American Exceptionalism originated in the early 1800s, the idyllic values Tocqueville paints in his book can be seen throughout American history. Specifically, in the 1960s, a decade where de Tocqueville’s defining characteristics of American Exceptionalism are
The Yalta conference and the Potsdam conference were two sessions or meetings held during the Second World War., These conferences were held for The Big Three to manage their differences and come to several agreements among themselves. The Big Three included the United States (USA), Great Britain and the Soviet Union (USSR/Russia). The Big Three – also referred to as The Grand Alliance – were always known to be enemies and weren’t fond of each other, although had one thing in common and that was their hatred for Germany. They all had this recurring hatred for Germany, and would do anything to watch it burn to the ground, to the point of uniting with one another to help defeat Germany. In 1945, they decided to hold two conferences, this was to help them decide and help one another figure out what to do and how they can organize the world after the war ends. Both these conferences were also held so each of these countries could decide their wants and needs equally and bluntly, so no surprises could be discovered later on. And it was only discovered throughout these conferences how strong the tension between USA and USSR was and how it started to grow rapidly.