McCarthyism came about during the Cold War during the Second Red Scare. Americans were scared that the communists were infiltrating their country’s democracy and liberalism from the inside so they used the practice of McCarthyism "to make accusations of subversion or treason without proper regard for evidence.”
May 8, 1945 the end of WWII came for many, the fighting was finally over in Europe, this day became known as VE day. During the war the Allied powers consisted of Great Britain the United States and the Soviet Union, the USSR was communists and the Western Allies were capitalists but that difference didn’t matter to them, they were united under one common goal, defeat Hitler and the Japanese. But VE day brought about what was soon to be the end of the peace between the Allies. The defeat of Germany meant there was no longer a common enemy, and therefore the struggles between the capitalists and the communists began again.
2 years later, 1947, President Truman ordered background checks on every American civilian in the government services, when it was discovered that a very high-ranking State Department official was convicted of espionage charges, the fear of communism rose intensely and quickly.
After the war President Truman asked him to be his Secretary of State. “McCarthy capitalized on national paranoia by proclaimed that communists spies were omnipresent and that he was America’s only salvation”, this statement created an atmosphere of fear of world domination by the communists which hug over postwar American for years. Because of this belief McCarthy proclaimed he “was aware of 205 card-carrying members of the Communist Party who worked for the United States Department of State” This statement and many more speeches to come started the McCarthyism era of blacklisting thousands of Americans “believed” to be communists.
McCarthyism sparked the House Committee on Un-American Activities, who started to target the Hollywood film industry hunting for communists. Those put on trial were thought to be communists, and they either admitted to their crimes and were forced to give names of others, or did not admit and were pinned with evidence against their denial. Either way most of the people put on trial were blacklisted Americans, this meant they were practically socially isolated, nobody wanted to be their friend, nobody wanted to hire them, nobody wanted to work for them, nobody wanted any affiliation with these people.
After his storm through the Hollywood film business McCarthy “turned his attention to ‘exposing’ the supposed communist infiltration of the armed services” This didn’t fly well with the American people though, and almost at once the “aura of invulnerability” that surrounded McCarthy started to disappear. McCarthy’s final blow was when their was a broadcast of the Army-McCarthy hearings on national television, the American people watched as he intimidated many and attack a young Army lawyer. Once this was all over McCarthy almost had no allies and the Senate voted to condemn him “for his inexcusable, reprehensible, vulgar and insulting conduct unbecoming a senator.” After his fall the media and many Americans became uninterested in his communist allegations and the McCarthyism era was practically over.
Mr. Stewart
I like how you began your article with how America's common enemy during WWII was Hitler and Japan and then made it obvious that the enemy quickly became communists after the war. It is interesting how powerful and even necessary it is for some people to have someone else be the scapegoat. All throughout history, there is always someone to blame and in some way, by blaming someone else, people feel more safe and secure about themselves. What was the role of television and broadcasting in McCarthyism?
ReplyDeleteI find your description of the causes of the McCarthy era to be apt; I think that we often find ourselves collaborating with someone we don't get along with in order to attain a common goal. I would say that television both worked for and against McCarthy. It helped to make the fear of communism present in the lives of the average American, and thus allowed McCarthy to be a national figure. Television hindered McCarthy in that people knew the extent of his claims, and when he took it "too far" by going after the military, he lost credibility. I think that if anyone were to try to stir up fears in the same way as McCarthy did, they would be exposed fairly quickly due to the broad gaze of our modern media.
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