...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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...American foreign policy Americans war with Korea was to keep communism from spreading. The United States adopted the Marshall Plan which in turned earned billions of dollars in trading revenue (Brinkley, 2007). The Marshall Plan helps to aid its allies and rebuild and to prevent Soviet Union from expanding their communist beliefs (Brinkley, 2007). The Truman Doctrine allocated money to Greece and Turkey was also in need of assistance. One of the primary objectives of the foreign policy of the United States is the creation of conditions in which we and other nations will be able to work out a way of life free from intimidation (The Truman Doctrine, n.d.) . Red Scare The late 1940's would see the rise of the new Red Scare (Brinkley, 2007). He reintroduced America to the Red Scare, it stayed in the spotlight due to the coverage of Senator McCarthy, and the movement deemed McCarthyism keeping communism in minds of Americans (Tyrer, 2009). Many in Hollywood were "blacklisted" and never again worked in Hollywood. Red Scare in America struck fear into so many, and how one man could single handedly stir such controversy in Hollywood and for those in power in America. Senator Lehman stated, "This is not between Britain and the United States, but between McCarthyism and America's role of leadership in the free world Communism must be attacked with equal force since both seek national disunity and destruction of freedom (Tyrer, 2009).” B.I. (1975), wrote “the HUAC’s Hollywood...
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...McCarthyism and The Second Red Scares impact on Media in the 1950-60s decades (Research and Analysis Paper) In 1950, fewer than 50,000 Americans out of a total US population of 150 million were members of the Communist Party(Gilder Lehrman). However following WWII the the time period of the 1950-1970 was marked as a period of mass fear of Communism. American fears of internal communist infiltration reached Its highest point since the First Red Scare of the 1920-30s. Government organizations investigated millions of americans, “asking what books and magazines they read, what unions and civic organizations they belonged to, and whether they went to church” (Gilder Lehrman). This time period was also marked by the major shift and blacklisting of celebrities primarily in show business. One of the people who took full advantage of the mass hysteria was Senator Joseph McCarthy from Wisconsin. McCarthy began his crusade by giving a speech at the Women’s Republican Club of Wheeling, in West Virginia, where he stated that he had a list of over 220 confirmed communists living in the US. The numbers of this statement dropped over the years as people began to watch him more closely. However this didn’t stop him from rising to more power, after the Republicans regained a majority in the senate, McCarthy took control of a subcommittee, and performed investigations on government agencies. Other Cold War “activists” consisted of Minnesota Senator Hubert Humphrey, union leader Walter Reuther...
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...of many different perspectives. After the unity of America for WWII, the true underbelly of many American opinions and what it was to be a true American were revealed. Was the identity of a true American liberal or conservative? Were they from the suburbs and farm lands or urban? Were they a rebel or did they conform to the government and social norms? Were they stay at home mothers or did they leave home to join the workforce with men?...
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...1919 was a year of social and political revolution with worldwide effects. Communist governments came into power in Bavaria and Hungary (Foner 757), in America there were strikes for laborers, the Red Scare and the Treaty of Versailles. Throughout the world countries were dealing with the flu which ultimately killed between 20 and 40 million people, there were uprisings in India and Spain. In the United States there were race riots and labor strikes across the country. One of those strikes being the Great Steel Strike. It was centered in Chicago and involved more than 365,000 workers. These included immigrant workers who demanded to be recognized in unions, higher wages and an 8-hour work day. The owners of the steel mills also fought back...
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...The rise of McCarthyism became known to man around the early 1950s. It blamed innocent people for the problems of America at the time. Some questioned whether it affected the United States of America, and many still wonder if it took a positive or negative part. The Rise of McCarthyism had a major role on the lifestyle of Americans, it impacted America politically, economically, and socially . McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations to overthrow or betray someone without evidence. It is also the practice of making unfair allegations or using unfair investigative techniques, especially in order to restrict disagreement or political criticism. McCarthyism made people discriminate and become afraid of everyone for fear that they might...
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...The Cold War Overview * Arms Race * Communism * Glossary and Terms * Space RaceMajor Events * Berlin Airlift * Suez Crisis * Red Scare * Berlin Wall * Bay of Pigs * Cuban Missile Crisis * Collapse of the Soviet UnionWars * Korean War * Vietnam War * Chinese Civil War * Yom Kippur War * Soviet Afghanistan War | People of the Cold War Western Leaders * Harry Truman (US) * Dwight Eisenhower (US) * John F. Kennedy (US) * Lyndon B. Johnson (US) * Richard Nixon (US) * Ronald Reagan (US) * Margaret Thatcher (UK)Communist Leaders * Joseph Stalin (USSR) * Leonid Brezhnev (USSR) * Mikhail Gorbachev (USSR) * Mao Zedong (China) * Fidel Castro (Cuba) | http://www.ducksters.com/history/cold_war/summary.php The Cold War Communism Communism is a type of government and philosophy. Its goal is to form a society where everything is shared equally. All people are treated equally and there is little private ownership. In a communist government, the government owns and controls most everything including property, means of production, education, transportation, and agriculture. History of Communism Karl Marx is considered the Father of Communism. Marx was a German philosopher and economist who wrote about his ideas in a book called the Communist Manifesto in 1848. His communist theories have also become known as Marxism. Marx described ten important aspects of a communist government: * No private property * A single central bank...
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...Impact of Nationalism During the 19th and 20th centuries, nationalism played a crucial role in shaping the world, both constructively and destructively. Throughout history, nationalism can be found almost everywhere, with the desire for self-determination and independence as its primary catalysts. Nationalism can take form in politicians, national leaders, propaganda and mass media. In the last two centuries, the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the emergence of independent nations, the two most influential wars of all time, World War I and World War II, and the rise of the worlds’ superpowers, the United States of America and the Soviet Union can all be partially attributed to strong sense of nationalism and played an important role in shaping the world. The phenomenon of nationalism hit Europe in the 19th century. For example, self-determination, and the desire to be independent and dominant, fueled the Ottoman Empire. However, this longing proved destructive and led to the Ottoman Empire’s collapse in 1829, because of nationalist revolts. Although the Ottoman Empire ceased to exist, “The collapse led to the independence of Greece in 1830, and many countries pursued the same independence that Greece had obtained a few decades later. These countries included modern day Serbia, Romania, and Bulgaria. Slavic peoples’, who included Poles and Serbs, also jumped in on the nationalist movement”. With the Ottoman Empire no longer in control, Greece was able to gain its independence...
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...other, as they knew the amount of power each country had in terms of nuclear weapons. Not only did they distrust each other, but they lacked a mutual understanding of each other’s culture. The USA believed in capitalism and the USSR believed in communism. This lack of mutual understanding caused mass paranoia within America as they feared that communists would infiltrate their society. This hysteria was known as the Red Scare which lead to “a range of actions that had a profound and enduring effect on U.S. government and society.” (Red Scare, 2013). During World War II “moviegoers learned to appreciate cinema for what it was: a powerful delivery system of ideology” (Doherty, 2003, p. 19) and after World War II “Soviet Communism and American Democracy, found its domestic expression in fierce debates over the subversive influence of the popular media.” (Doherty, 2003, p. 21). Hollywood was scrutinized first for allegedly using the film industry to influence the public about communism. The House of Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) was formed in 1938, and it’s investigations were “frequently focused on exposing communists working inside the federal government or subversive elements working in the Hollywood film industry” (Red Scare, 2013). On September 21, 1947, HUAC “subpoenaed forty-three members of the Hollywood film community to answer charges about communist infiltration in the movie industry” (Friedman, 1984, p. 214). Ten of the Forty-three appeared before HUAC and...
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...The Lavender Scare: How America’s Persecution of Homosexuality Marked a Turning Point in Legalized Discrimination? Cosmo Vanzyl Senior Division Historical Paper Paper Length: 2,498. Joan Cassidy, former captain in the U.S. Navy Reserve, explained that “[the interrogators] swooped in like death with a scythe, sweeping through the place and. questioning [the women] about their sexual lives and whether they were gay.” Captain Cassidy was one of many gay government employees who lost their livelihoods and dignity due to the drastic rise in American extremism and the anti-communist witch hunts of the Cold War. The visibility of the queer community rose alongside the American norms developed amid the paranoia of Cold War presidential...
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...allies the USA and Soviet Union became involved in a war of ideologies, the cold war. The US saw communism as a threat to democracy and capitalism. Therefore the US set out a new foreign policy, the policy of containment, in the Truman doctrine. There were however other reasons for the USA’s involvement such as their military confidence, UN agreement, domestic pressure which called for Truman to be more tough on communism and their economic interest in Japan which led to the US government’s decision to intervene in the Korean War. One of the main reasons for the US’s involvement was due to the ‘Policy of Containment’. The aim was for the USA to work with its allies to contain the spread of communism in eastern Europe and Asia using political, economic and if necessary military pressure to prevent the spread of the every growing ideology of communism. The US’s main worry was the communism would spread as most of the eastern European countries were devastated by the war were weak and communism could easily spread through these weakened countries such as Hungary. Europe was divided by ‘an Iron curtain’, the west with capitalism views, and the east with growing communism views. Furthermore, China had fallen to Communism under Mao, which may have been a huge wake up call for President Truman. In addition, Mao had signed the treaty of friendship with Stalin; therefore the spread of communism in Asia and eastern Europe was almost inevitable. As a result of this threat, Marshall Aid and...
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...the future for America in many ways, including the religious boom, the staggering increase in defense spending, and the pushing of government control and propaganda due to ignorance and discrimination. The Cold war distorted America forever, instilling a fear of communism that would last to this day, making Americans want to try and rid the world of this evil. America, especially from the 1950s to the 1970s, main goal was to rid the world of communist control....
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...colonizers out of their soil so that they may unite and rule as their own country. However, this point in history was in an extremely cautious state; the Red Scare was at its peak and the Cold War was all but getting better. Two political opponents arose in this new Vietnamese regime: the communist backed Ho Chi Minh of North Vietnam, and Southern Vietnam’s Ngo Dinh Diem, who had a more Republican view. Shortly after the Korean War, America saw another communist threat that could lead to the impression of Communism being able to easily rise across Asia, otherwise known as the Domino Theory. Soon, war broke out between the North and South Vietnamese which would lead to...
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...An example would be the Rosenbergs, Julius and his wife Ethel were charged with exchanging nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union; there was not enough prove to show Ethel was involved with the incident however, Julius passed along highly secret information to the Soviets that may have helped them advance more than the U.S. in the arms race later both were convicted and executed. Leaving America in distress propaganda of public safety flourish "duck and cover" in public schools and bomb shelters were being built for the worst case scenario which only added fuel to...
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...social problems[1]. With these being the basic foundations, it would be the “imminent” threat of Communism on the home front in America that would make the conservative movement powerful and longstanding. The substance of the conservative movement would surprisingly rise from a liberal source. The New Deal had provided the country with stability in dire economic times with what seemed like a complete government takeover of traditional small government role. This would be where the Conservative movement would take reign. Following World War II, the American government and it’s citizens grew uneasy about the Soviet Union far more than it ever had before. The liberal administration would enact policies such as the Truman Doctrine that had been monitoring Greece's crumbling economic and political conditions, especially the rise of the Communist-led insurgency known as the National Liberation Front[2]. The new liberals failed to discern the continuity between the anti-Communist politics of Joe McCarthy and anti-Communist politics of the Truman Administration, or to understand how the rhetoric and leadership of the Truman Administration, alarmist in tone and manipulative in form, helped to create the climate that eventually led to McCarthyism[3]. The passion the liberals placed upon anticommunism was a major part in the development of the conservative movement. Before the 1950’s in America, the conservative movement was an array of ideas with little to no continuity. There...
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