Jane Roarty Period 4 3/8/15 The Emergence and Prominence of McCarthyism: The Republican Drive for Power I. Introduction The late 1940s and early 1950s were years full of fear and oppression, caused by a political phenomenon called McCarthyism. This term was coined after Senator Joseph McCarthy came to public attention by claiming he was aware of many different communists in the government. These accusations often cost people their jobs and reputations. The causes and reasons for the prominence of McCarthyism are widely debated among historians. Some earlier scholars and social scientists have attributed the wide-spread acceptance of McCarthyism to immigrant families seeking to create an American identity and prosper. Other historians think …show more content…
Political Circumstances and Consequences of McCarthyism (Background and Context): The Democratic victory in the executive branch in the 1948 election motivated the Republican dominated congress to attempt to regain political power through McCarthyism, which consequently put many jobs at stake and halted the efforts of many left wing organizations. a. The Republicans won a majority in both houses of Congress in the 1946 elections, which helped Truman in the presidential election, because citizens were unhappy with the domestic policy put in place by the Old Guard Congressmen. Truman’s victory partially fueled McCarthyism because of the extremely competitive nature of partisan politics at the time (Hartmann, 107). b. McCarthyism affected every institution and organization in America, from Labor to professions to the Media (Schrecker1, Archival Sources for the Study of McCarthyism, 205-207) c. The labor unions during this time were especially hurt by McCarthyism and are a perfect example of the damage it did to American society. Many unions were unable to function under the scrutiny of Congress and many anticommunist regulations put in place, so all of their energy was focused solely upon surviving and not the benefits of their members (Schrecker2, McCarthyism’s Ghosts: Anticommunism and American Labor, …show more content…
The “Status Anxiety” of Americans which led to McCarthyism: McCarthyism was partially able to emerge during the beginning of the Cold War era due to the insecurity of American life, and people’s search for identity and a rise in status. a. Hofstadter’s famous “status politics” thesis gives one explanation for society’s acceptance of McCarthyism. He argues that “pseudo-conservativism” is caused by a lack of roots in American society due to the high number of immigrants and leads people to search for identity and prosperity within society. Hofstadter claims that when “pseudo-conservativism” is incorporated into politics, it creates “status politics” which, in turn, lead people to accept McCarthyism, to prevent communism from destroying what they had built in America. (Reeves, 44). b. Many anticommunist leaders were of immigrant decent and the Catholic Church played a large role in the “anti-communist crusade”, supporting the status anxiety theory because of a belief in the American dream or because they did not want to lose their societal position to communism (Schrecker1, 203), (Reeves,
When the Tydings Committee issued a majority report dismissing all of McCarthy’s allegations and condemning them as “a fraud and a hoax perpetrated on the Senate of the United States and the American people.” Republican members of the American sub-committee condemned the majority report and the Democrats who signed it and McCarthy turned his defeat into a victory through the great publicity he received. Soon after Tydings report was considered pro-Communist. Like the Salem Witch Trials lack of substantial proof, many people were willing to believe McCarthy’s charges without any evidence. Soon world events seemed to be playing into McCarthy’s hands and he could use it all against the Truman administration. McCarthy’s fame grew and he because more careless, and instead of hinting nameless lists, he started naming names.
Almost instantly after the end of World War Two, the tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union began to tear away at the thin bond formed by the two counties' alliance in the war. McCarthy and many other republican politicians believed that the democratic party, along with President Harry S. Truman, were not harsh enough on the communist party and they strongly opposed Roosevelt's New Deal. When the Republicans took control of the presidency in 1952, "McCarthyism," as it is now known. This new movement, McCarthyism, accused some Americans of being communist’s sympathizers and people that were suspected o...
...that people can yet again fear that the communists might attack and send spies within to destroy their beloved country. Take the evidence from the Ohio County Women’s Republican Club when McCarthy stimulated the fear that Communism will spread and their spies will overthrow the democracy through traitorous means. Take the evidence of the Truman’s Response to McCarthy, Truman stated that the Kremlin must have put McCarthy there to cause turmoil and that must be a reason why he must have caused the country to go into a red scare. Take the evidence of the cartoon from Herb Block, which showed McCarthy drive his car into innocent people who had no influence of the communist and were scared by McCarthy’s ways of finding communists. McCarthy wanted to be well known and decided to start the red scare so that everyone else can fear and be aware of the communist everywhere.
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.
...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
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
In 1950 Joseph McCarthy, a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, began a crusade of anti-communism (Bartlett). In this period of time “the widespread accusations and investigations of suspected Communist activities in the U.S.” became known as ‘McCarthyism’ (Reeves). Many events happened during the McCarthyism era to justify his suspicions; Communism was spreading throughout Czechoslovakia and China, and North Korea invaded the South –which started the Korean War (Reeves). The accusations of Communism spread to all branches of public works; entertainment, clergy, teachers, and journalists were all investigated (Reeves). Blacklisting first appears at this time. Many people had to take oaths, swearing that they were not Communist, just to keep their jobs (Reeves). When McCarthy first began, he said that Communists made up the majority of the State Department, but when the Senate looked into it they reported no sings of Communism (Reeves). In 1949 McCarthy said to have gotten his inf...
Many Are the Crimes: McCarthyism in America, New York: Little, 1995. Brown and Company, 1998.
Power was also an important theme in McCarthyism. Joseph McCarthy showed signs of his desire for power early in his life. He led a corrupt campaign to become a circuit court judge, which was a foreshadowing of what he was willi...
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...
"Opposition to Senator Joseph McCarthy and His Tactics." Gale Student Resources in Context, Gale, 2011. Research in Context, libraries.state.ma.us/login?gwurl=http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=MSIC&sw=w&u=mlin_s_stoughs&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CEJ2181500207&asid=1cb70229247ed7f338ae5eb78148494d. Accessed 4 Apr.
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.
McCarthyism is a term used to describe the American fear of communist spies during the Cold War. The original airing of “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street,”
In the 1950s, after the Word War II, modern conservative movement emerged in the U.S. This conservative movement blended the elements of libertarianism and traditional conservatism. However, many historians have associated the emergence of the modern conservative movement with the New Deal. One of the most important elements of the conservative movement in 1950s is that it was an anti-communist group. This was experienced in the 1950s when North Korea, which embraces communism, attacked South Korea. Truman, who was the president at that time, tried liberate South Korea by force without obtaining the approval of the congress. Instead, he obtained approval from the United Nations. This made republicans to strongly criticize the war as well as the policies that were being employed by Truman. In additio...
Hofstadter, Richard. The American Political Tradition and the Men Who Made It. New York: Vintage, 1989.