The Impact Of The Red Scare On American Culture

Immediately after the end of World War II, two different political ideologies came into power – Soviet communism and American capitalism. The Cold War was a state of military and political tension between the two powers who both vied for supremacy on an international scale. As the Soviets’ development of nuclear capability this fear, dubbed “the Red Scare” metastasized from the arena of government employment into the party politics, professions, the media, and the people at all levels, and was a catalyst for many changes in America. The Red Scare compromised many civil liberties of American politics, society, and people, and led to a range of profound and enduring effects on the US government and society. Such impacts were shown through many

political claims and measures that negatively affected America’s overall state, such as actions of Senator Joseph McCarthy and The House Un-American Activities Council (HUAC), in society, such as popular culture and the film industry, and daily life, by the many restrictions and fear of freedom of speech and thought that led to the disruption of thousands of American lives.
During the period of the Red Scare, the mounting fears of communism negatively affected American politics and politicians, by driving many politicians and committees to make outlandish and incorrect accusations against America and its people. Politicians like Senator Joseph McCarthy began making false claims about communistic infiltration in the government to stir fear and paranoia in the hearts of Americans. One of the most notable examples of McCarthy’s false claims were that he had a “list with the names of 205 members of the Department of State that are “known communists.”” This was extremely untrue, with him never being about to produce evidence of even one communist inside the State Department, yet this claim still caused the jobs of tens of government employees terminated and sparked a nationwide hysteria about subversives in the American government.
The fear of communism in the government also gave rise to one of the most prominent committees during the cold war, the House of Un-American Activities Committee. (HUAC.) The HUAC was an investigate committee of the United States House of Representatives and was created for the sole purpose of investigating alleged disloyalty from American individuals and any subversive activities of private citizens, public employees, and organizations suspected of having Communist ties. Both these instances are one of several hundreds that clearly show how the fear of communism intimidated impacts on American politics.
The Cold War led to popular culture in American society to change significantly.

Books and film, new mediums, began reflecting darker topics due fears of communism in society and depicted stereotypes and demonization’s of Russians and Soviet takeover. Russians were commonly portrayed as evil aliens invading Earth, which only continued to feed into public fear. The Red Scare had substantial impact on American culture, and paranoia concerning nuclear holocaust were apparent in films. In literature, dystopian themes were overwhelmingly popular. Books such as “The Manchurian Candidate” and “The Fourth Protocol” reflected intense fears of a Soviet takeover and fueled fear in communism, while book like “1984” and “Alas, Babylon” explored the idea of the apocalyptic lives after Russian domination. Movies produced diabolized communism, and themes such as nuclear war and espionage permeated throughout popular culture. This is especially shown in the sci-fi movie “Invasion of the Body Snatchers.” The movie, which shows aliens, juxtaposed as Russians, secretly invade America to secretly possess human bodies and turn them into soulless “pod people” all contribute to the strong demonization of Russian as synonymous to invading evil forces, whereas previously they were just portrayed as normal people. This huge shift in portrayal of Russians due to the Red Scare in American society’s popular culture show the how the immense fear of communism and Soviet invasion warped the way Russians

were illustrated in different modes of media.
Although seeking to protect democracy by eliminating communism from American life, anticommunist sentiment ironically undermined democracy by suppressing the freedom and civil rights of its people.

Americans felt the grueling effects of such anti-communism on a personal everyday level, and thousands of innocent citizens illogically accused of being communist sympathizers saw their daily lives ruined. Such accusations of communism meant that thousands of innocent Americans were hounded by the government and law enforcement, alienated from friends and family, and fired from their jobs solely from the pretense. While a small number of the accused may have been aspiring revolutionaries, a much larger majority were simply victims of false allegations or had done nothing more than exercise their democratic right to join a political party, have freedom of speech and freedom of thought and in which were punished gravely because of the hysterical fear of

communism.
In October 1947, ten members of the Hollywood film industry publicly criticized the actions of the HUAC. These prominent Hollywood screenwriters and directors received jail sentences and were banned from ever working in the major Hollywood studios. Many other followed suit, with a Hollywood Blacklist built on accusations of alleged communistic ties being created that barred innocent screenwriters, actors, directors, musicians, and other American entertainment professional from work and critically damaging their careers. Not only that, the Red Scare during the Cold War saw many citizens performing unnecessarily actions out of irrational fear. Many average and other-wise normal individuals began holding an extreme fear of a nuclear holocaust fueled by communism. This fear led to many average American individuals to prepare against a Russian attack and many school children being taught to duck under school desks in practices akin to fire drills. American adults also began building fallout shelters and underground bunkers around their homes out of paranoia, as a means of safety and protection against Russian attack. All these actions taken to ensure safety against the Soviet show how America believed in the threat and feared communism, and how it negatively impacted American individuals.
The fear of crippling of communism in the America dominated American politics, society, and individual and deeply affected America state and society. This is shown through the many political changes and actions undertaken by the American government to stave off communism, the way society’s popular culture instilled a subconscious fear of Russians and communism through film and literary portrayals and the disruption in the lives of thousands of Americans due to a fear of communistic takeover.