Soviet Infiltration Essay

During the late 1940s and 1950s in the United States the specter of widespread Communist infiltration greatly intensified, permeating American culture, politics, and society. As a result of American society’s fixation with Soviet espionage, national security dominated discourse throughout the nation. Up until this point, the American Communist Party (CPUSA) existed to the Capitalist masses as a minor nuisance, but the Soviet Union’s spreading pall struck fear in the hearts of Americans, leading to a general consensus that the Soviet infiltration posed a terrible threat to nearly everything Americans valued; malicious communist serpents were thought to be lurking around every corner, plotting even in one’s own home. The U.S. population fixated on the threat of Communist espionage during this time period, resulting in a stretch of political repression and extreme paranoia furthered by

This behavior continued during WWII with Soviet annexations such as Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania in 1940, as well as after the war with the USSR’s occupation of Europe and goal of establishing hegemony in Eastern Europe. The Soviet Union oversaw the establishment of Communist regimes throughout Eastern Europe, their union becoming what is now known as the Soviet bloc. Communism’s dangerously close proximity to the United States’ european allies of course furthered American fear and paranoia, despite the unlikelihood of a Soviet attack on the West. With communism’s influence stretching from East Asia to Germany, it is easy to see why American’s would feel intimidated and fearful, but certain internal influences such as government action and a background of agitation fomented the rise of rampant irrational trepidation towards the so called “specter of