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Anti-Communist Sentiments during the Cold War
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After World War One and the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, fear of communism was escalating in America. Everybody seemed to fear the so-called “Red Menace”, a term introduced by Edgar J. Hoover. Partnering with Hoover was a man named A. Mitchell Palmer, head of the Justice Department. Palmer became a leader in the fight against communism. He most likely was prompted by being a target of one of the infamous 1919 bombings (Dumenil 220). Palmer wanted to be known as the embodiment of Americanism, fighting all that threatened our society. He also had future hopes of running for the Presidency. With anti-communistic attitudes building throughout the country, Palmer rounded up 500 federal agents on the night of January 2nd, 1920 to sweep through various towns in America capturing “reds”. These were called the Palmer Raids. Thousands of immigrants were arrested and held without due process. They were given no rights when arrested and their homes were raided without warrants. Eventually 240 immigrants were deported to Russia as a result of these raids.
The people of America were afraid their way of life was being threatened by the communists. Overwhelming fear of communism seemed to capture the whole attitude of our country in the early 1920’s. The fuel to this fire against communism, would have to be the media. I believe the media caused an escalation in the anti-Communist feelings during the times leading up to and during the Palmer Raids.
There are many ways the media influences society, but in the 1920’s the main source was newspapers. The New York Times was one of the most popular and prestigious papers of this time and also one of the most influential. Many people had fait in what they read and never second gu...
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Guest, Edward A. “Heaven On Earth.” Detroit Free Press Magazine 11 Jan. 1920: 2
Hoyt, Edwin. The Palmer Raids, 1919-1920 An Attempt to Suppress Dissent. New York: The Seabury Press.
Murray, Robert. Red Scare: A Study In National Hysteria, 1919-1920. Minnesota: North Central Publishing, 1955.
“Reds Plotted Country Wide Strike Arrests Exceeded 5,000, 2,635 Held; 3 Transports Ready For Them” New York Times 4 Jan 1920: 1
Remelgas, Alexandra. “News Reporting And Editorial Interpretation Of The Palmer Raids 1919-1920 By Three Detroit Newspapers: A Study” Thesis For Degree Of M.A. MSU, 1970,
Shulam, Alix. To the Barricades: The anarchist Life Of Emma Goldman. New York. Thomas and Crowell Company, 1971.
Who Built America, v. II. “Between to Wars – The Palmer Raids.” CD Rom. 25 January 2000. http://chnm.gmu.edu/courses/hist409/red.html
...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
Review of Frederick Lewis Allen: Since Yesterday: the 1930’s America. (New York: Harper and Row, Publishers, Inc., 1939), 362 pp.
“The Pullman Strike” [“The Pullman Strike”]. Illinois Periodicals Online. Ed. Drew Vandecreek, Jack Hendricks, and Brian ` Conant. Northern Illinois University Libraries, 3 Dec. 2003. Web. 2 Dec. 2013. .
The Red Scare in the 1950’s was actually America’s second red scare. The 1920’s red scare was what helped start suspicion over Communists, but was put off during World War 2. It was no coincidence that what many people called the second red scare ignited after World War 2, during the Cold War, in the 1950’s. The 1920’s red scare started because Americans were paranoid over the fact that Russia may seek revenge after they had overthrown a royal Russian family in 1917. What started Communist ideas in the U.S at the time was the fact that since the war was over many of people were out of jobs which caused people to ask how efficient was the government. The most successful and noteworthy of all the Soviet parties in the 1920’s had to be the International Workers of the World, which was also called the I.W.W or the Wobblies. The Wobblies first strike was on January 21 1919 where about 35,000 shipyard workers struck. They were immediately labeled reds, or Communists. After the first strike mass panic struck the U.S and many major chain stores had to reassure their customers that their workers would not revolt. A mayor named Ole Hansen from Seattle took the Wobblies strikes personally. Strikes continued over the next 6 months and were labeled as “crimes against society”, “conspiracies against the government” and even “plots to establish Communism”. This was when Attorney General A. “
Americans knew about Communism because Communists had been at large in the country for years. When the Bolshevik revolution succeeded in Russia, it sent a shock wave in America. Americans have never been sympathetic to radicalism in any form. People that were associated with radicalism, rightly or wrongly, were harassed, lynched, jailed and subject to all sorts of bias. Thousands were arrested in 1920 and often held for long periods without trial. The Red Scare of 1920 was a precursor of McCarthyism (Baughman 200).
Foner, Eric and John A. Garraty. The Reader’s Companion to American History. (New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1991).
The issue of electoral reform has become more important than ever in Canada in recent years as the general public has come to realize that our current first-past-the-post, winner-take-all system, formally known as single-member plurality (SMP) has produced majority governments of questionable legitimacy. Of the major democracies in the world, Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom are the only countries that still have SMP systems in place. Interestingly enough, there has been enormous political tension and division in the last few years in these countries, culminating with the election results in Canada and the USA this year that polarized both countries. In the last year we have seen unprecedented progress towards electoral reform, with PEI establishing an electoral reform commissioner and New Brunswick appointing a nine-member Commission on Legislative Democracy in December 2003 to the groundbreaking decision by the British Columbia Citizen’s Assembly on October 24, 2004 that the province will have a referendum on May 17, 2005 to decide whether or not they will switch to a system of proportional representation. This kind of reform is only expected to continue, as Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty decided to take BC’s lead and form an independent Citizen’s Assembly with the power to determine whether or not Ontario will have a referendum regarding a change to a more proportional system. There is still much work to do however, and we will examine the inherent problems with Canada’s first-past-the-post system and why we should move into the 21st century and switch to a form of proportional representation.
McCarthyism wasn't just directed at those in the CPUSA prepared to follow Stalin's wishes to the letter. It was directed against rank-and-file CP activists who had fought long and hard in the labor and civil rights struggles of the 1930s and 1940s. It was directed against others on the left, from liberals in the university and the government to Trotskyists and other radicals and revolutionaries. It severely weakened the labor movement and contributed disastrously to a decline in union power and militancy that we are only now beginning, slowly, to recover from.
Mara Mayor. "Fears and Fantasies of the anti-Suffragists," Connecticut Review 7, no. 2 (April 1974), pp. 64-74.
In ‘The Peek-a-Boo World,’ chapter 5 of Amusing Ourselves to Death, Neil Postman argues that the 19th century saw America begin to develop a shallow and sensationalist culture that only took information and media at face value. In support of his argument he makes the following three points: that telegraphs allowed insignificant information to be easily conveyed, thus cheapening media as a whole; that penny newspapers used more readily accessible information from telegraphs to begin printing countless sensationalist headlines; and that the popularization of photographs began to draw people to superficial images rather than the articles that they were intended to be supporting.
The persecution of homosexuals during this age of McCarthy proved exactly how vulnerable they were to attack and discrimination. Out of those persecutions came some of the first organized “gay rights” groups, known as Homophile organizations, the first two being the Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilibis (who focused their efforts on Lesbian rights). Founded in 1950 by Harry Hay, the...
Allen, Frederick Lewis. Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the 1920s. New York: Harper & Row, 1959.
From this definition of media, it has certain wide effect and impact upon the audience to which it is addressed. The impact upon audience can be positive or negative. The positive impact can include educational information and knowledge on certain ideas, policies, laws, or even the current events. The negative impact can impair or damage the refutation of a person, or institution or an organization based on impression. Since the impact of the media can be dictated by the content it is aired or published, this was utilized during the cold war to enhance the campaign of socialism or communism and capitalism or democracy. Further, this essay will investigate into the effects of media during the cold war with the use of television, newspapers and radio broadcast in Russia and America.
Poe’s most famous poem begins with an imagery that immediately brings the reader into a dark, cold, and stormy night. Poe does not wish for his readers to stand on the sidelines and watch the goings on, but actually be in the library with the narrator, hearing what he hears and seeing what he sees. Using words and phrases such as “midnight dreary” and “bleak December” Poe sets the mood and tone, by wanting his readers to feel the cold night and to reach for the heat of the “dying embers” of the fireplace. You do not come into this poem thinking daffodils and sunshine, but howling winds and shadows. By using these words, Poe gives you the sense of being isolated and alone. He also contrasts this isolation, symbolized by the storm and the dark chamber, with the richness of the objects in the library. The furnished room also reminds him of the beauty of his lost Lenore. Also, Poe uses a rhythm in his beginning stanza, using “tapping”, followed by “rapping, rapping at my door”, and ending with “tapping at my chamber door.” You can almost hear the tapping on the door of the library as ...
George Orwell's, Animal Farm, depicts how power can corrupt society. If one person receives too much power, one will most likely lead up to dictatorship. To exemplify this idea, Orwell uses a farm to represent a society and the animals inside to portray the people. Orwell's use of the pigs and animals are also an analogy that people sometimes act as 'mindless pigs';. Orwell makes the reader realize just how bad a society of dictatorship can really be.