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Anticommunism and Mccarthyism

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Anticommunism and McCarthyism Travis Hall His/145 4/27/2011 Richard Pinder

At the end of World War II, there was a continuing state of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars and economic competition that existed between the United States and the Soviet Union, commonly known as The Cold War. These two superpowers conflicted and were competitive about many things, but none greater than the difference in government. The Soviet Union, being a communist country was highly unfavorable to the majority of the world. The United States attempted to use containment as a primary strategy to keep communism away from its shores. This strong resilience prompted the phrase, anti-communism, which simply means against communism. Even though America maintained itself as a democracy, there was a sweeping fear that communism may infiltrate the American government. Senator Joseph Raymond McCarthy became the most visible public face during this period. Senator McCarthy helped to perpetuate this fear, by making claims that there were an extremely large number of Communist and Soviet spies inside the United States federal government. This brought about the coining of the phrase McCarthyism. McCarthyism has become a common phrase for making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence. McCarthy’s method used the fears of Americans to perpetuate his own agenda. During the McCarthy era, many Americans were accused of being Communist or communist sympathizers and were subjected to intense investigations before government and private panels, committees and agencies.(Wiki) McCarthyism not only affected the American public it heavily influenced the political landscape. In the 1950 Maryland Senate election incumbent Senator Millard Tydings, who at the time was a 24 year Senate veteran, had expected to win yet another political victory. The Senator, however, underestimated a bitter grudge held against him, by his Senate colleague Joseph McCarthy. Tydings, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee, had described the allegations made by McCarthy as “fraud and a hoax.” Unfortunately, the voters in his state were cajoled into believing that he was guilty of softness toward communism. (McCarthyism) In theory anti-communism and McCarthyism share the same ideology. Both are in opposition to the same thing, but their approaches are polar opposites. Anti-communism is an ideological belief that communism is wrong or harmful. It holds communism to be bad, regardless of how the communist party attains power, whether democratically elected, by revolution, of imposed by a foreign power. Whereas, McCarthyism was a specific political activity in one country- the United States- at a particular time. In whole, McCarthyism was a scare tactic that affected the entire landscape of the United States. Anyone who challenged the practice of McCarthyism was immediately accused of being associated with communism and could ultimately ruin your personal and business life; very similar to the Salem Witch Trials, which once accused, the only way to prove your innocence was death. Not only did McCarthyism change the American landscape, but the way the world viewed America. In a letter sent to the editor of the Washington Post in 1950, while visiting Rome and American was approached and told that “Most of your officials are communist, we wonder if it won’t develop soon that President Truman is a communist.” When asked where he had gotten such an idea he replied “From the McCarthy investigation. The stories in our papers indicate that the investigation involves everybody, even your president.” After explaining to the Roman that President Truman is a distinctly un-communistic type, he simply asked “Why would a United States Senator accuse so many people unless he has proof?” To which the writer had no reply. (Letter) The Cold War lasted until 1991 and even though the anti-communism campaign was not as highly publicized, it changed the landscape of America forever. It gave a term that has become synonymous with certain political strategies, and tarnished the way the rest of the world viewed America.

The un-american committee (1948). . NEW YORK, NY, United States: Retrieved fromhttp://search.proquest.com/docview/108215077?accountid=35812

McCarthyism (1950). . Washington, DC, United States: Retrieved fromhttp://search.proquest.com/docview/152208256?accountid=35812

Eula, J. (1950). McCarthyism's effect. Washington, DC, United States: Retrieved fromhttp://search.proquest.com/docview/152274263?accountid=35812

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