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Cold war and salem witch trials
Witch hunts during mcCarthyism
Witch hunts during mcCarthyism
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McCarthyism: The Modern American Witchhunt
"Have you no sense of decency sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of
decency?"
-Joseph Welch, lawyer for the Secretary of the Army
Introduction
By the time Republican Senator Joseph R. McCarthy gave his first speech in which he accused 205 members of President Harry Truman's democratic government of being communist on Feb. 9, 1950 there was already a lingering anti-Communist attitude in the United States. Which is why his speech, given in West Virginia, far from Washington DC, and from his home state of Wisconsin, made such an impact. Most of what he said has been forgotten, the speech was never recorded, but what he started with that speech would win him and his actions a place in American history.
McCarthyism: a word synonymous with lying, government cover-ups and abuse, and the private war of one man against what he saw as a threat to the American way of life. Countless lives would be ruined by his crusade. , those of government officials and private citizens alike. When it was all over McCarthy's vehemence would bring his own downfall. MaCarthy and his followers caused panic and fear of communism in those who were ordinary citizens. For those who were targeted and accused, however, McCarthy and his followers did much more.
How it was done
Governmental structures, local and federal, set up various un- American activites committees. These committees were set up solely to find and prosecute communists, or suspected communists. They drew the attention of the American public in every city that they were, furthering the panic of the "red scare."
They set up inquisitions to take care of their targets. Loyalty review boards were set up by President Truman in 1947, and were used quite frequently in the 1950's. Nearly all public employees were forced through these boards, although most went through swiftly without trouble. These boards were not able to imprison people, but they were able to take their jobs from them.
Private industries were often more harsh on their employees suspected of being communist. To avoid public embarrassment that could be detrimental in the ultra- patriotic 1950's they would often hire people who were ultra-patriotic to weed out the communist, or suspected communists in their corporations.
Truman created a program to investigate federal employees in 1947. This program was established to show that he was working his maximum to prevent communism from entering the states. For instance, “In 1947, under pressure to show that he was making every effort to prevent the spread of communism, President Harry S. Truman established a program to investigate federal government employees.” (2) Since there was no penalty for perjury, the government couldn’t fire the guilty federal employees; however, others were fired because they couldn’t prove loyalty to the U.S. government. People who got fired had their name publicized—it was a very tedious process for them to get a job after the fact. The president’s response and the outcome of this response had much impact on other people’s lives, for some who were presumed innocent had their life that lasted ahead of them ruined.
McCarthy was a virtually unknown politician until February 1950, where in a speech at Wheeling, West Virginia, he proclaimed “have here in my hand a list of 205 . . . a list of names that were made known to the Secretary of State as being members of the Communist Party and who nevertheless are still working and shaping policy in the State Department” (History Matters). This speech coined the “Enemies from Within” propelled McCarthy to the political spotlight and gave him huge power along with the support of the American public. McCarthy, realizing he had a great political opportunity, and continued his “anti-communist” tirade accusing powerful people in hollywood and members of the armed forces as being communists or communist sympathizers. As his skeptics grew, so did his blacklist, with McCarthy accusing every single one of his critics as communists destroying their lives and careers in the process (Victims of McCarthyism). McCarthy used this tactic to discourage any opposition, with many potential critics seeing the potential implications of their skepticism, they simply redacted their statements or never spoke
Joseph McCarthy was a United States senator in the mid twentieth century who believed that the communists were taking over the State Department and were shaping the foreign policy of America, those same communist that were their foes. Joseph McCarthy’s great fear of the rising of the communist party, in both the Soviet Union and in America, was reflected by a great deal of the country. “The fall of China to communism were the results of the infiltration of communism in to the American government, specially the state department” (The Annals of America).
By the time Joseph McCarthy gave his Lincoln day speech the Red Scare in America was on full blast. Just a year prior to the speech the Soviets had successfully tested a nuclear bomb and China fell to the communists. There were problems both internationally with the Soviet incursion into Eastern Europe and domestically with Soviet spies in the United States. On February 9th 1950 this Senator from Wisconsin took advantage of the opportunity at his speech to the Republicans Women’s Club of Wheeling, West Virginia.
Throughout history , it has been shown that, history has a tendency to repeat itself. In 1692, men and women were accused of witchcraft whether they were guilty or not. The place that this was occurring was, Salem, Massachusetts, a city full of puritans who came from Europe. Witchcraft was the among the worst crime any individual could do. This often times led to people being hung or exiled from the church. Many people were hung, even though they were innocent. Many years later during the WWII era, there was a lot of speculation about communists and their impact in America This era was known as the McCarthyism era, because, Sen. McCarthy was the leading America into a anti -communist state. In one case in particular was of a U.S AIr Force Lieutenant, Milo Radulovich, who was released from the Air Force due to the fact that his father, read a newspaper which was from Serbia, because he has a Serbian background, the Air Force believed his was pro-communism, since the newspaper favored communism. The Air Force also believed Milo was pro-communism because, his sister peacefully protested outside of a hotel which didn’t allow a communist member to stay at . Milo was born and raised in Michigan, he also dedicatedly served his country, he had no form of favor in communism. but was automatically placed under the notion that he supported communism and was fighting for them because his dad read a newspaper from a different country and his sister protested for equal rights. Neither Milo or his family did anything bad. Assumption thinking leads to stereotypes.
...y Wheeling speech created nationwide hysteria, and with its impeccable timing just days after the conviction of the State Official Alga Hiss for lying under oath about his association with the communist Soviet as a spy, fueled the fight on communism. (citation) McCarthy war on communism during the “Second Red Scare” did not leave any individual safe from accusations. He attacked government agents, entertainment industry workers, educators, union members, and alienated the left-wing Democrats. McCarthy helped to create the atmosphere of suspicion and panic with his growth in media coverage. McCarthy’s words made for big headlines and the media was quick to cover his stories. This exposure helped facilitate American approval of McCarthy and empowered him to make more accusations on those suspected of subversion. In 1953, McCarthy headed the Government Operations Commit
During this time a variety of Americans were accused of being Communists or communist sympathizers and were victims of aggressive investigations by government committees and agencies.
As a counter product of this McCarthy intensified the Red Scare more and more. His ideals got through to the citizens creating more accusers and accusations. This only of course led to more and more fingers being pointed. The Red Scare was alive and well before McCarthyism but in the creation of McCarthy’s over the top actions he made it worse for the country as a whole, creating more and more fear inside the American
The Salem witch trials and the story of Joseph McCarthy are very similar; they both accused innocent people of doing things that were “bad” at the time. The Salem Witch trials were persecutions of men and woman on account of performing witchcraft. Two girls accused a woman of doing witchcraft and then the accusations continued, people accused other people to relieve their own punishment in a last ditch effort to save their lives, but it was in vein. After the witch trials were over “19 had been killed and an elderly man pressed to death under heavy stones”(Linder). “Some accused of witch craft were burned at the stake all in the name of justice”(Brown). Others were finally let out of jail after being in imprisonment for months at a time. Joseph McCarthy was the U.S senator for the state of Wyoming from 1947-1957, the year that he died. McCarthy became the most visible face in public during the time of the cold war in America. “McCarthy pursued unnecessary investigations, imprisonments and unprovoked acts to those who were being accused of being a communist”(Glitterrich). The term McC...
The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) was created in 1938. They were focused on investigating and putting an end to Communists and Communist supporters in the American Society. Their first major attack was on the Hollywood film industry. Communists in the Hollywood industry were said to be placing subversive messages into films. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and others like Senator Joseph McCarthy pestered communists and supporters of the Communist party. McCarthy conducted “witch hunts” in effort to seek out and eliminate suspected Communists. Congressional hearings were in effect, not hearings, but trials for crimes that were not really crimes, with congressmen serving as prosecutor, judge, and jury. Unable to deprive a person of their life and liberty, they deprived him of his livelihood. If the person refused to give the names of other Communists, he or she would automatically be considered guilty.
McCarthy was elected senate after becoming a lawyer in his sate of Wisconsin. During the first few years of his term nothing major really happened until 1950. In a speech to the Women’s club of wheeling in West Virginia he stated that he had a list in his hand of about 205 known members of the communist party working for the United States department. President Harry Truman had signed an executive order that said that all communists or fascists could not obtain a United States government job. The FBI played a big role in the investigation of this list McCarthy contained. McCarthy’s friend j. Edgar Hoover, which was a violent ant-communist in the federal government, could not wait to expose the people McCarthy accused of being communists. McCarthy’s list created a nationwide scar among the people of the United States. Everything McCarthy said was a lie and he had no evidence to show that the people he accused were really communist but, because of the start of the Korean War and the arrest of two American soldiers accused of spying on the Soviet Union American citizen...
The entire Red Scare was meant to keep communism out, and the main reason they wanted to do that is so they could remain free. What really ended up happening was the opposite. When just normal Americans were accused of being a communist, their lives were over, guilty or not. Even if they weren't a communist, they stood a very tiny chance of ever finding a good job without leaving the country. Some people are accused of being Russian spies.
As an individual in the middle of Twentieth century Joseph McCarthy had a rather intense effect on society. He started the movement that bears his name. McCarthyism was the movement that caused many changes in the lives of the people of the 1950's. McCarthy headed the charge against communism in the United States after the second World War. Through his actions many people were accused of being communists and hastilly judged to be so because of the general feeling toward communism. What causes such an incredible uprising. What caused so many people to rally behind, in many cases, unfounded accusations that would ruin other peoples lives unjustly? What caused not just a movement but the movement known as McCarthyism? It is historically proven that a simple action can have many complex causes, while a movement can have immeasurable causes underlying its begining and the momentum that keeps it alive. Leaving the little, but not insignificant causes alone, the major causes of McCarthyism were the attitude of the United States toward communism, the sense of superiority within the United States, and McCarthy's own position.
In the year of 1954; the US wanted Senator Joseph McCarthy gone. The reasoning behind this is he was on two counts for conduct. He was in trouble for financial affairs, abuse of members, and insults to the Senate. The senate had sparked a debate over the trial and nobody was on McCarthy’s side. The condemnation was really his last debut in the political world. In 1950; he told court supposedly that there were communist in the State Department. He used this to bring communist out of the department. His accusations were false and this deal became known as McCarthyism. Finally in 1954 he had to defend himself once again for charges from the Army. He was also put in negative light on a CBS News program. In the program he could not keep up and defend
One can obviously see the similarities between the McCarthy period of history and the period of time in which the Salem witch trials took place. The people were scared of something, because they were told to be scared of it. Everyone backed the hunts and those who did not where accused. Due to this scare everyone desired to rid themselves of the impurities. The innocent where accused and put in a melting pot. Their careers, and lives where ruined. Another similarity the two periods of history have is the regret that America has when looking back on these tragic