...During the late 1910’s and the early 1920s, there were many events that affected American society in more than one way. While there were good changes in society such as the nation's wealth doubling in size, there were also horrible events that happened, too. Some of those events that occurred were the Red Scare, the Palmer Raids, and the Sacco and Vanzetti case each impacting society in a negative way. During this time, many Americans were scared after World War 1 thinking that new immigrants would come bringing Communism with them. The Red Scare is a time in American history where people were fearful of immigrants who accepted communist, socialist, and anarchist ideas, but they were especially fearful of communism. The reason for this is because they feared that their way of living would be destroyed and freedoms would be taken away. Also, because in Russia the communists had taken over and killed the royal family in the process, so Americans did not want that to happen to them either. Another contributing factor to the Red...
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...Anticommunism and McCarthyism Travis Hall His/145 4/27/2011 Richard Pinder At the end of World War II, there was a continuing state of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars and economic competition that existed between the United States and the Soviet Union, commonly known as The Cold War. These two superpowers conflicted and were competitive about many things, but none greater than the difference in government. The Soviet Union, being a communist country was highly unfavorable to the majority of the world. The United States attempted to use containment as a primary strategy to keep communism away from its shores. This strong resilience prompted the phrase, anti-communism, which simply means against communism. Even though America maintained itself as a democracy, there was a sweeping fear that communism may infiltrate the American government. Senator Joseph Raymond McCarthy became the most visible public face during this period. Senator McCarthy helped to perpetuate this fear, by making claims that there were an extremely large number of Communist and Soviet spies inside the United States federal government. This brought about the coining of the phrase McCarthyism. McCarthyism has become a common phrase for making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence. McCarthy’s method used the fears of Americans to perpetuate...
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...Anticommunism and McCarthyism Paper HIS/145 December 19, 2011 ANITCOMMUNSIM AND MCCARTHYISM PAPER The differences are that McCarthyism was a radical expression of anti-communism, because anti-communism was a political belief that was against any social, cultural, political, and foreign policy that supported a government controlled state, economy, and cultural life. McCarthyism sought to fight communism by rooting out disloyal government officials through hearings, investigations, and wire tapping them to find out if they had allegiance to the communist party. McCarthy came out in the 1950's with a list of 205 spies that changed every day, but he began to target spies that no longer worked for the government (Goldfield D, 2006). They are closely related, but McCarthyism accused too many innocent people such as teachers, the army, and was finally censured by the Senate for interfering with the rights of the citizens which the article on the censorship and the symbol of McCarthyism spoke on. The press manipulated the perspectives of the nation by either promoting McCarthyism when it came out or then devaluating it when it was found out, but it was influenced by politics. I have enclosed a list of articles from Pro Quest that prove these contentions. McCarthy manipulate the press by using press clips, TV news, and publicized Republican convention to attack General Marshal, the General of the Army and other prominent government officials (Goldfield D, 2006). These televised...
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...Anticommunism and McCarthyism Hist/145 November 30, 2011 Janice Harder This paper will require me to define and use quotations to defend my position to answer the questions of the difference between McCarthyism and anti-communism, the perspective of the press, the decisions of the foreign policy, and the lives of Americans. I would attempt to integrate the questions of McCarthyism, anti-communism, and the perspective of the press in the first part of the paper, because they are related. The differences are that McCarthyism was a radical expression of anti-communism, because anti-communism was a political belief that was against any social, cultural, political, and foreign policy that supported a government controlled state, economy, and cultural life. McCarthyism sought to fight communism by rooting out disloyal government officials through hearings, investigations, and wire tapping them to find out if they had allegiance to the communist party. McCarthy came out in the 1950's with a list of 205 spies that changed every day, but he began to target spies that no longer worked for the government(Goldfield D, 2006). They are closely related, but McCarthyism accused too many innocent people such as teachers, the army, and was finally censured by the Senate for interfering with the rights of the citizens which the article on the censorship and the symbol of McCarthyism spoke on. The press manipulated the perspectives of the nation by either promoting McCarthyism when...
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...WWII was a major historical event that shaped the United States and struck fear into its citizens. Soon following the end of WWII a new fear of the unknown began to develop within Americans which caused nationwide anxiety and panic. Many believed communism might be the next threat to challenge the United States. The growing sentiments of Senator Joseph McCarthy lead out to protect America’s freedom from communism, although his sweeping lash stripped freedoms from many of his fellow citizens. Strange as it may seem, in this period of American history both communism and McCarthyism threatened America; fear fueled the fire to a Red Scare glow before its flame would dwindle and smolder. In order to better understand these events, a more detailed look into history is needed to explain how this controversy and cultural phenomenon came to be. Understanding the Differences Is there a difference between anti-communism and McCarthyism? Despite the common belief that these two terms have the same meaning, there are indeed fundamental differences. Anti-communism can be understood as a set of beliefs, social values, or political opinions that a communist form of government is unacceptable and wrong. McCarthyism, on the other hand, was suspicious and it unfairly accused American citizens of being a communist. Lead by and named affectionately after Senator Joseph McCarthy, McCarthyism and its accusations violated American civil rights, destroyed reputations, caused employers to "blacklist"...
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...The United States (U.S) and it’s ideals have greatly impacted foreign affairs since the founding of the nation. Though most ideals shift over hundreds of years, American exceptionalism has remained unchanged. As demonstrated by J. Edgar Hoover and Richard Nixon’s anti-communist agendas, the U.S has not been tolerant of communist, marxist, or anti-democratic rumblings in the western hemisphere. The second red scare on U.S soil indicates how repulsive to the American populace the ideal of communism had become, and how easily it could be manipulated as a political weapon. Intervention in situations where European powers are attempting to enter Latin America was justified by the Roosevelt Corollary. This gave the government the right to interfere...
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...The idea of the United States’s foreign policy that was the domino theory, was the belief that if one country fell to communism then the rest would follow it, trailing behind like dominoes one by one. Karl Marx figured that if one country saw another that they were close to going under the influence of communism, then they’d think it was stable and safe. The name of this concept was created by Dwight D. Eisenhower at one of his press conferences. Prices were to be paid for international political reasons and everyone who wasn’t already under communism was expected to be soon enough when the theory was tested and proven ineffective. Ones who refused communism protested and came up with ways to either get rid of it, or knock it down and win over...
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...violence, with bloody wars, or with a nationalist movement that followed Marxism. The Chinese Civil War during the years 1945 to 1949 exemplified decolonization through the third method. The Civil War was a struggle in which the Nationalist Kuomintang Party (KMT) tried to exterminate the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for political and economic freedom. Due to the fact that this war could have potentially led to the eradication of Communism in China, the United States tried to become involved. The importance of eliminating Communism from...
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...McCarthyism The Cold War was around for about 44 years and the focal point of it all was Communism. The US and Soviet were on each end of the spectrum. The Soviet was a communist nation with a hunger to grow while the US would do whatever necessary to prevent the fall to communism. These two large power houses had to build power in one direction or the other because it is almost impossible for two large powers to share the wealth. We will discuss the differences between Anticommunism and McCarthyism while looking at how the media covered this during that time. American foreign policy would be changed forever due to the push of anticommunism. Lastly, we will look at how the Red Scare changed the lives of Americans. Anti-communism and McCarthyism have some very minor similarities that should be focused on but never to be associated as being the same thing. Communism is a method to create an environment where everyone is of equal class and will work while the communist government collects all of the money and gives you only what you need. They own the land, the house, the food, the water, and anything else in between. Anti-communism is the resistance against this way of living. The United States and of course, President Truman, was totally sold on ensuring that the United States does not come under the communistic ways. Anticommunism was a methodology to do all that could be done against communism. The difference with McCarthyism is that this was a process of accusing people to be...
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...The Red Scare The Red Scare of WWI The red scare was a national-wide anti-radical terror which was provoked by mounting apprehension, fear and imminence of Bolshevik revolution of the united state. The Red Scare was also involved in the promotion of communism and followed the Bolshevik revolution, as well. Communism is social ownership or economic system that property or resources were collectively owned by classes but not by individuals. When WWI ended, the Bolshevik revolution of Russia and the Red Scare came up due to fear of communist and socialist and took hold of the United State. There were bombings by the anarchist all over and this had put the State in fear. Democracy was not expressed, the innocent were put to jail by putting forward their views. There were no social liberty and everybody was afraid that the Bolshevik revolution could take control. During the First World War, patriotism filled the hearts of people and the state was divided into two major groups. There was a minor group which was unrecognized on governmental affairs. The first group worked in the war industry and the other in the armed forces. During this period, one had to be patriot, communist, slackers or draft dodgers; they were all classified as suspect. Out of this patriotism the Red scare took control in 1920s (Binkley 187). The McCarthyism According to Binkley, McCarthyism also known as the second Red Scare is the act of making accusations of treachery, sedition, or treason...
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...the end of World War II. Between 1945 and 2018, the world has seen the rise and fall of communism governments, has witnessed countries formed and others torn apart. The world has seen empires fall and superpowers rise to take their place, only to become locked in the ideological Cold War that left all in fear of nuclear war. No country remained unaffected by the conflict of the United States (US) and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Consequently, Cold War politics continue to affect modern the actions and reputations of countries globally even long after its end in 1989. The Cold War refers to the...
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...that is, to sustain the trustworthiness and integrity of the pledge of Washington to restrain the evil menace, communism, across the globe. In 1950s, the communist regime expanded into North Vietnam under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh. The U.S leaders at the time believed that Ho Chi Minh could barely crushed the armed forces of France in the 1950s (Moyar 2006) or provoked the United States ten years after without firepower support from Beijing and Moscow, the two major communism headquarters. Fearing of a communist takeover in Southeast Asia, the U.S leaders, particularly Lyndon B.Johnson, declared the war on North Vietnam, fully aware of the courses of action they were taking. The ideologies of Marxism-Leninism provided Mao Zedong, Leonid Brezhnev, Nikita Khrushchev, Joseph Stalin, and Ho Chi Minh a shared goal in pursuing revolutionary changes all over the world. The fame of Ho as a fervent supporter of national independence and Vietnamese unification, alongside the Soviet’s willingness to support him, established Vietnam as an especially advantageous chance (Moore & Turner 2002). With the cold war at its peak, “a world war… in which the future governance of the international system was at stake, and in which the great powers opposing the United States and its allies were the moral equivalent of Nazi Germany” (Moore & Turner 2002, 440), both the United States and Soviet Union competed to exert cultural, political, and ideological control over different parts of the...
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...and early 1950s, a struggle broke out between the Unite States and the Soviet Union in what was known as the Cold War. The west was concerned with anti-Communism becoming a part of its domestic politics. It had become an obsession of most conservative politicians to expose what they call Communist subversion and at the same time dealt a blow to the liberal causes. The interest of the Soviet Union was in the control of strategic interest. In addition the Soviet Union was determined to create a secure sphere for itself in Central and Eastern Europe as protection against possible future aggression from the West (Brinkley Ch. 29). These different views were the bases for the Cold War. Not only did the cold war have international consequences but also create a division within the United States. Since Communism was a major concern, the spread of anti-Communism was introduced as a way to protect the fundamental way Americans lived. In addition anti-Communism gave birth to McCarthyism. I will discuss the differences between anticommunism and McCarthyism, the perspective from which the media covered anticommunism and McCarthyism, how the American foreign policy decisions were affected or impacted by anticommunism and finally how Americans’ lives changed because of the Red Scare. To gain a clear understanding of the differences between anticommunism and McCarthyism, a brief definition of Communism must be given. Communism is a distinct socio-political philosophy that is willing...
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...The 1950’s were a time of fear and paranoia within the United States. During this time Cold War tensions were beginning to intensify giving way to the infamous Red Scare and the communist allegations of Joseph McCarthy. In the late 1940’s and early 1950’s, the communal American fear of communist subversion reached its peak, colloquially known as the Red Scare. At this time, fewer than 50,000 out of the 150 million people, less than 1%, living in the United States belonged to the communist party, however the country remained in a state of panic. As a result of this hysteria, a senator named Joseph McCarthy began making accusations against alleged communist infiltration of government agencies. Therefore, the term McCarthyism, coined by political cartoonist Herbert Block, came to mean the movement to expose Communist subversives in the government and other important public institutions from the late 1940s to the mid 1950s. A...
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...The anti-communist countries defended South Vietnam and the communist allies defended North Vietnam. The United States, South Korea, Australia, the Philippines, New Zealand, Thailand, Khmer Republic, and Taiwan were the anti-communist. The Soviet Union, Khmer Rouge, and North Korea were the communist allies. Vietnam was part of the French Empire before World War Two. During the war, Vietnam was overrun by the Japanese. The Japanese later on retreated making Vietnam establish their own government. Their government was led by Ho Chi Minh. The Vietnam War started from the symptoms and components of the Cold War. The war revolved around an American belief that communism was threatening yo expand all over South-East Asia. The United States and the Soviet Union were in no shape to fight their own war so they ended up fighting in the Vietnam War. When it came to the Cold War, the USSR could not fight. Instead of fighting, they backed up the communist cause. They sent weapons and armor to China, who was an allied communist as well. China then took some of that equipment and sent it to the North Vietnamese so they could...
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