McCarthyism
|Joe McCarthy bought communism in much the same way as other people purchase a new automobile. The salesman showed him the model; he looked at it with interest, examined it more closely, kicked at the tires, sat at the wheel, squiggled around in the set, asked some questions and bought. It was as cold as that,X said Roy Cohn. In fact, Joe McCarthy was the leader behind the anti-communist force in the early 1950+s. His impact was so strong and powerful, that the moment was called McCarthyism. McCarthyism, designated to America, largely focused on the conception that there were communists corrupting America+s government, as well as the entertainment and business industries. McCarthy chose his opponents well, and the newspapers swallowed up his false accusations and exaggerated speeches. McCarthy had all the qualities of a leader, and he led the American people into believing that America was threatened by communists. Republicans also chose to side with McCarthy, allowing McCarthyism to take priority in government matters. With all the hype McCarthyism took, people did not question if Communism could actually be a part of America, they just
believed McCarthy. However, the communist threat during the McCarthy trials was unrealistic and not potentially dangerous to American society.
American society had every reason to be afraid of communism. In the aftermath of World War Two, the Soviet
The Essay on Mccarthyism Anti Communist
... of Communism in America, there was a great shortage of reliable information at the time. Like most people, journalists were afraid to criticize McCarthy ... that were not made. The most obvious casualty of McCarthyism was the Communist Party itself. The party was already facing internal problems ...
Union was pushing for world domination, and communism seemed to work for them. The Rosenbergs had been tried and convicted as Soviet spies, and had caused the United States+s domination of nuclear power to be nonexistent.
Since the United States could lose so much domination at once, society would begin to think that the Soviet+s way of government, Communism, could be possible in the United States. McCarthy certainly didn’t help. He made many wild accusations, and the press was just as wild in printing them. With newspapers making McCarthy a front page headline everyday, Americans would start to think that Communism could be corrupting the government. However, McCarthy+s accusations had one thing against them: they were just accusations with no proof to back them. Therefore, the |Red ScareX was just that — a scare, not a threat.
There was not enough support in America during 1950-1954 for a revolution like communism to occur. Communism involves the participation of the whole government or country, not just a few select people. The lack of interest in Communism was clear during the 1950+s:
Even if it did not leap off every opinion poll,
anticommunism was evident. A poll found that 68% would outlaw communist party membership; 83 % would make communists register with the government; 73 % would ban them from college teaching. (Fried, 88)
America did not want a communist society. In fact, as said above, a communist was not welcome in the United States. Since a ban from teaching would have possibly occurred, Communist ideas would have been hard to spread effectively among the future of the United States. Also,
the 1950+s would not have been the best time to try to make communism an American standard: |Even independent of McCarthy, the years 1950-1954 marked the climax of anticommunism in American life.X (Fried, 144) Since the end of World War Two, the United States and Soviet Union had a strong dislike for each other as well as the other+s method of government. The 1950+s proved to be a time where communism would not have been allowed, simply
because that was the way the Soviet Union ran their country. Anyone who expressed favor for communist ideas was rejected by society: |The ease with which redbaiting discredited so many causes showed how deeply anticommunist assumptions permeated American cultures.X (Fried 169) Society made sure to make a point of saying that communism would not be welcome in the United States. Communism is a revolution that requires a great deal of support. If this support was unavailable from America, then communism could
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not have been a terrible threat to American society.
The communist scare during the 1950+s was guided by McCarthy and had no real evidence to prove itself worthy to American society. McCarthy was a desperate man who needed Communism to make himself known to America, no matter what the cost. McCarthy used communism when America was most vulnerable:
|He (McCarthy) did it by touching a nerve of fear, a raw nerve that distorts reality. With his incessant lies fanned and made credible by the press, he led millions from worry to mindless paranoia.X (Adams, 95)
McCarthy knew that America was afraid of the Soviet Union, and its Communism. He was able to make people question if America could become communist like its enemy. The press
didn+t help either: |While everyone in the government knew McCarthy had no evidence behind his accusations, the newspapers printed them like real news.X (Feuerlicht, 62) The press always failed to mention that McCarthy never presented any concrete evidence that Communists were in the government. McCarthy used the lack of responsibility of the press and his wild accusations to create a fear in the American people, because the last thing Americans wanted was a Communist government. While McCarthy had no evidence to back himself up, there was plenty of evidence against him:
McCarthy lied when he said there were 205 communists in the State Department. He just made up the number and later said he had misplaced his list. Then he said he had been misquoted and there were just bad security risks.+ But the people still thought the government was communist. (Feuerlicht, 55)
McCarthy+s lack of evidence showed that Communism was no real threat to America. He seemed to just pick a number that would scare people and then blame the press if someone questioned him. McCarthy created Communism in America, and imprinted a fear on Americans.
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The political activism of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. calls into question not only the issue of civil disobedience, but the ramifications of religious and political ideologies and their relationship to the rule of law, specifically the United States Constitution. King's rationalization for acts of civil disobedience is based on spiritual, as well as moral and political ideology; this fact ...
Even though McCarthy pushed people into thinking Communism was a possibility for America, America was too proud of being anticommunist. It was extremely clear that Americans were not in favor of Communism. Society would not accept it: |Americans had been hating Communists with greater or lesser fervor since 1917, for they fitted to perfection America+s need for a scapegoat, or what philosopher Yves Simon called an accursed group.+X (Feuerlicht, 30) Communism was a force that Americans
blamed their problems on, not something they would have accepted. Americans used Communism as a way to explain
what was wrong with the world, not as an idea for improving the government. Furthermore, Communism was not even taken seriously in the government or society: |…no one in any position of responsibility seriously worried that the (communist) party would mount to a successful revolution.X (Schrecker, internet) The government was not worried that Communism was going to take over America. The government would not have allowed Communism to make an entrance into the American way of life. America was fighting with the Soviet Union to become a world power, and communism in the United States would have given the Soviet Union an extreme advantage: |Nothing but the integrity of the United States stood by the Soviets and world domination.X (Buckley, 245) The United States had to be anticommunist in order to gain power over the Soviet Union. World domination was important to the United States and its society. Thus, communism would not have been allowed because it would have prevented this goal.
Communism could not have occurred in America. Society would not have allowed it to. There was not enough support for a revolution like communism to occur, because people hated it with a passion. McCarthy created the scare, not communists corrupting the government. The anticommunist movement was too strong to allow communism to take control of the United States. The communist threat during the McCarthy trials was unrealistic and not potentially dangerous to American society. Thus, it was a scare that was approached, looked at, and then destroyed.
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Within the framework of democratic capitalism, the American Constitution and government structure have a fundamentally liberal backbone. Viewed as a social contract, the relationship between the state and the individual is expressed in the Constitution which dictates the liberal values intrinsically woven into American history. Combined with the Bill of Rights, the Constitution holds the ...
