Sam Roberts in the article A Decade of Fear argues that Americans turned against each other because of McCarthyism. Roberts supports his argument by explaining and describing the many occurences of paranoia caused by McCarthyism. The author’s purpose is to persuade the reader that McCarthy’s gross grab at power caused tension between Americans. It is clear that the author is directing his claims to an older and more educated audience, due to his cynical tone. I strongly agree with Roberts’ claim. McCarthyism created tension between Americans due to paranoia, patriotic influence, and greed. Clearly, McCarthyism influenced and allowed paranoia to settle itself within the American mindset. McCarthyism was the one key factor in revealing the Communist influence on American soil, and the detonation of the atomic bomb in Soviet Russia caused Americans to begin falsely …show more content…
For example, others feel that McCarthyism created a safer America and protected it from Communism. However, it is clear that this is not true. In fact, Roberts states that “McCarthy never publicly revealed any list of alleged Communists.” which may mean that he never had a list at all (2). Another reason that others have a different view is because they believe McCarthy did what he did for the wellbeing of the American people. This is also clearly not true, as it has been proven that McCarthy accused others to gain political power. For example, McCarthy’s downfall was caused when he clashed with the army. Roberts claims that “McCarthy and his chief counsel, Roy M. Cohn, were accused of improperly using their influence to get preferential assignments for… David Schine, who had been drafted into the military.” (3). To sum this up, those who supported McCarthy had few rebuttals in regards to the turmoil he created in America. Therefore, McCarthyism stirred the pot and intensified the strife between
McCarthyism was a made up theory that only caused hysteria and had no real benefit to the United States. Government officials and people in power did not agree with McCarthy’s actions. The hunt for communists was like an impossible witch hunt. The lives of many were flipped upside down because of the accusations made by Joseph McCarthy. Government officials and people in power did not agree with McCarthy’s actions.
Charlotte Dunn Roger Arsht English 10 12 September 2017 Commonalities in The Crucible, McCarthy, Nixon & Trump: Will History Repeat? In the mid-20th century, Americans feared the infiltration of Communism. The Soviet Union had amassed great power and the threat of a nuclear confrontation was at the forefront of the American psyche. China, too, had become a powerful Communist threat.
However, providing only the fact of the situation Alwood failed to give any analysis and left this task completely in the hands of the reader. He also neglected to provide any historical context for the events mentioned in the book, perhaps assuming that those who would be interested in reading his book would already have prior knowledge of the situation, such as those already studying journalism or the history of media in the United States. Of course, within his account of the “witch-hunt” in the press, he established a timeline in the form of listing events which pertained to the issue one by one as they occurred, but he failed to explain what caused this anti-communist epidemic. In the end, his book is nothing more than a meticulously researched historical study, which while summarizing and accounting for the history of events within the press during the red scare, would not suffice for a regular reader interested in the impact of McCarthyism on America (for a significant amount of the events listed in his book can be considered to be an excess of painstaking
Joseph McCarthy gained power because of people’s fear of communism (“Red Monday”). McCarthy claimed that 205 government officials were communists without supporting it with evidence which caused a panic (Fried 1). Frightened Americans asked for an explanation and instead McCarthy accused people, but he had the people’s support because he was against communists and that blinded people to the true facts (Fried 1). With the Smith Act and the House Un-American Activities Committee in place to ease the fear of communism, McCarthy’s unjust trials were able to be conducted (“Red Monday”). Rights were quickly being taken away to prevent the spread of communism, however, it was so that McCarthy could keep gaining power without anyone being able to say otherwise (“Red Monday”).
McCarthy used multiple forms of propaganda to scare people into thinking that there were spys from Russia here in the U.S. Since he was known to enjoy having the spot light on him he knew that there were people that were going to listen to what he had to say. Even though he did try and scare some people the information that he used at times was fallacious. Through these tactics as Mary mentioned he ruined the lives of many. Simply because of his own personal beliefs he forced others to share the same ideals through fear and misinformation.
Sam Robert’s article, “A Decade of Fear” explains how McCarthyism turned Americans against each other after World War 2. In the first place he lied about communists being in the U.S. senate. As stated in Sam Robert’s article, “News of McCarthy’s accusations against the state dept. of president Harry Truman sent shock waves across the nation.” McCarty’s statements made him look like a gallant anticommunist and gave him power. As a matter of fact, he was considered more of a witch hunter.
In the 1950s, Senator Joe McCarthy from Wisconsin was able to strike fear into the heart of the United States by exaggerating the possible threat of communism. Using his anti-Communist speeches, he was able to convince a large portion of the United States to be afraid of communists, and eventually start to hunt them down. He began falsely accusing public figures and practically anyone who he considered “un-American” of being communists. The people who were framed as communists could not prove that they were innocent, therefore they were doomed if incorrectly suspected. If someone was labeled this way, they could be fired from their job, and followed with heavy surveillance.
“Senator McCarthy’s zeal to uncover subversion and espionage led to disturbing excesses. His browbeating tactics destroyed careers of people who were not involved in the infiltration of our government.” (Volume 1 XI). This quote proves that the trials not only tarnished the accused, but the innocent. Overall, the trials ruined the lives of people on both sides in incidents spurred from mass
McCarthy unlawfully accused American citizens of being Communist without substantial evidence. Senator McCarthy used his authority to spread anti-Communist hysteria across the nation in order to further his political career (“McCarthyism”). Thus proving the Second Red Scare was based upon hysteria and that Communism posed no real threat to American politics. The third example that proves the Second Red Scare was based upon hysteria not legitimate political threats is the investigations of the Loyalty Review Board. “By mid-1950, when more than 4 million people, actual or prospective employees, had gone through, the [Loyalty Review] boards had… dismissed or denied employment to 378… None of the discharged cases led to discovery of espionage” (“Anticommunist Hysteria”).
This kind of hysteria caused the Red Scare, which was a period that Americans thought communists were working to destroy America. This mass fear of communism ruined people’s lives and made them turn against their own family and friends. Joseph McCarthy played an
McCarthyism. McCarthyism was used to eliminate the danger of American communism because people believed Soviet puppets might subvert the government, steal official secrets, and sabotage the army. By late 1950 's, many men and women had lost their jobs, have been deported, or placed in jail. McCarthyism was powerful because different agencies and individuals took a part of the process.
However, the liberal and progressive organizations that usually would have protected the civil liberties of the victims of McCarthyism backed down from the task. Although numerous Americans were disturbed and troubled by McCarthy’s allegations, there was an absence of effective outlets for them to express their opposition. Therefore, liberals and progressives merely did not mount a campaign against McCarthyism nor did they defend the victims’ civil liberties, or when few tried, it was not effective. Schrecker argues, “The destruction of the front groups and the left-led unions may well have had a more deleterious impact on American politics than the decline of the (Communist) party itself.”
In order to fully understand how Joseph McCarthy became the tyrannical Wisconsin Republican Senator who fortified his power by inciting fear, we must examine
McCarthy manipulated the media, told outrageous stories about the communist conspiracy in the United States, and used his power and America’s fear to besmirch any opponents as “communist sympathizers” to make sure he remained at the top. Actually, most conservative members of Congress supported McCarthy because it helped them gain votes during elections. The majority of McCarthy 's movement attacked liberals and members of the Democratic Party and this aided anyone who was not part of those topics and organizations. Then McCarthy began to target the Army because they wouldn’t favor David Schine, one of his former investigators, who had been drafted in. “Senator Joseph McCarthy began hearings investigating the United States Army, which he charged with being ‘soft’ on communism.
McCarthy used this to further his career and public standing by dragging people’s names through the mud and ending their careers. Needless to say that the issue McCarthy addresses is a highly emotional subject and needs to broach with great care. McCarthy uses good and sometimes logical fallacies to argue his point, however he also uses strong bold statements to encourage the president to give him the records he wants to continue his witch hunt in America. After listing his demands McCarthy states, “Failure on your part will label the Democratic Party of being the bedfellow of international communism.