Rise Of Mccarthyism

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

it was a revolt of the ordinary people against wealthy and intellectual classes. Recent work presents the idea that it could have been a political ruse for either the Democrats or the Republicans, to gain power over the other party. Although the Democrats’ missteps played a role in the emergence of McCarthyism, it was truly a Republican attempt to recapture power in the United States government, and accepted by the public due to Republican exploitation of their fears and aspirations which created the political anomaly in the 1940s through 1950s.
II.

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,

11).
III.

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,

46).
c. Historian Daniel Bell agrees with the Status Anxiety theory and points out the people at the forefront of McCarthyism were people trying to preserve or achieve a higher societal status, including “soured patricians,” the “new rich,” the “rising middle class strata of the ethnic groups,” and “a small group of intellectuals, many of them cankered ex-communists” (Reeves, 46).
IV. Public Fears and Acceptance of McCarthyism:
Although fear was not the reason McCarthyism emerged in society, it was only able to develop because of the circumstances created by the second red scare when the public was terrified of a communist revolution in America.
a. The cold war was the circumstances by which McCarthyism was able to emerge, but not the way it emerged (Griffith, 24).
b. At this time, there was a communist revolution in China, which instilled fear in American society of the same thing happening in America (Reeves, 52).
c. Example of the fear: Labor leaders cooperated with the anticommunists in order to save themselves from the loss of their job and destruction of their reputation (Schrecker2, 7).
d. There were congressional hearings for some union leaders, who in some circumstances ended up in prison, demonstrating the risks at stake for all people anywhere near communism (Schrecker2, 13)
V. McCarthyism created by Republicans to gain Power and Promote Agenda:
The Republicans in Congress created through McCarthy strong anticommunist bias in an attempt to regain power, which led to political immunities for those involved, shielding the legislators from criticism or destruction.
a. Latham’s theory that the failure of the Republicans to win the presidency produced “political compression that exploded into McCarthyism” shows the partisan circumstances out of which McCarthyism burst (Killeen, 999).
b. The voting patterns in Wisconsin, examined by Michael Paul Rogin show the limit of McCarthy supporters to the conservative Midwest, which demonstrates the political grasp held by the Republican Party. The fact that there were few direct supporters exemplifies the goal of the Republicans to promote their capitalistic agenda, by making anything else seem near communism (Glad, 931).
c. McCarthy was able to gain political immunity by his identification with the anticommunists because the risk of being called a communist sympathizer was too great (Griffith, 25).
d. The reason given for McCarthy’s condemnation in the senate in 1954 was because “conduct was unbecoming to a member of the United States Senate” which shows that the Republicans agreed with him to some extent on the communist issue, and did not intend to in any way endorse communism (Griffith, 34).
VI. The Anticommunist Republican Legislation (Specific Examples which show the Republican power):
From the beginning of the McCarthy era, several anticommunist pieces of legislation were passed which were widely contested among those who were affected, yet remained in place due to the successes of the Republican creation of McCarthyism.
a. Section 9h of the Taft-Hartley bill required that all union officers sign an affidavit swearing they have no affiliations to the communist party and was later declared constitutional. If one did not sign it, they were punished both immediately and in the long term, by loss of privileges for their union and destruction of their reputation and in some cases jail (Schrecker2, 11-12).
b. The Communist Control Act of 1954 outlawed communist membership all together. This act show how much control the Republican Party had (Griffith, 26).
c. The McCarran Act of 1950 required communist organizations to register with the attorney general
VII. Democratic Blunders, Hypocrisy, and Fears:
Although it is contested whether or not Truman purposefully created the second red scare in an attempt to gain power, he and other democrats did somewhat inadvertently support McCarthyism by creating some anticommunist programs and supporting others or proposing compromises similar to those suggested by the Republicans.