Joseph McCarthy Essays - Communism In The United States,

Joseph McCarthy Throughout the early 1950s, the nation was deeply engrossed in fears of a Communist takeover. At a time when Americas fears were at their very height, Joseph McCarthy, a Republican Senator from Wisconsin pushed Americas fears to an extreme. As a ploy to get himself re-elected, and to make America hate Communism as much as he did, the Senator devised a devious scheme. McCarthy, while giving a speech, held up a piece of paper and exclaimed, I have here a list of 57 known Communists who are currently employed by the U.S. State Department (Fried, 89). A few days later, McCarthy raised the number of people on the list from 57 to 205. The reaction to McCarthys announcement was absolute panic. Until that time, the nation had a sense of security. Now all peace of mind was lost, and America wanted these people that were on McCarthys so called Blacklist (Fried, 65). So began a long-term search by Congress to seek these individuals. One group that was extensively looked at was Hollywood. By Jos eph McCarthy abusing his powers, he not only destroyed many peoples lives, but he also wronged the American public. To begin with, the type of person that Joe McCarthy was must be considered. McCarthy was a hard-line Republican who played along strict party lines. By all considerations, he was an extremist or a reactionary. By holding a piece of paper, and saying that the enemy who everyone feared was so close, McCarthy diminished all thoughts that America was truly safe. The actual piece of paper was blank; McCarthy had no writing on the paper at all. He knew that by telling the people of the U.S. that the enemy was so close, he could finally see a war erected against Communism. He simply used the peoples ambitions and fears to make a mountain out of a molehill. Communism in America before McCarthys debacle was simply a buzzword. Everyone knew about it, but no one ever talked about it. The first knowledge many Americans had of Communism came from Winston Churchills Iron Curtain Speech (Matusow, 45). Churchill basically said in his speech that the Soviet Union was pushing forward a global Communis t takeover. And Churchill also said that he believed, We should not let such a force loose on the planet (Matusow, 46). That was the first time many American eyes were opened to Communism, and McCarthy made sure it was not the last. The entire chaos that Senator McCarthy caused had become collectively known as The Red Scare (Feuerlicht, 34). McCarthy used this entire Red Scare idea to boost his hopes for re-election. But an elected official is supposed to be a representative of the people. All McCarthy did was abuse his power and pull the wool over the peoples eyes. McCarthy did not work for the benefit of the people. He only worked for the benefit of himself. Next, the people whose lives McCarthy destroyed must be looked at. In the immediate aftermath of McCarthys speech came many accusations. America wanted the people that McCarthy said were on his list. But when asked for the list, McCarthy said he lost it, and he could not remember which individuals were on the list. But he said he did see some key Hollywood figures on it. That was when the focus shifted to all of Hollywood. If anyone thought that an actor or actress seemed suspicious, they would simply start gossip about them. Eventually, the special Congressional committee appointed to investigate the issue would hear of it. And when they did, they would bring the individual in question before Congress, and they would basically tear them apart. They would ask them about their lifestyles, their fellow employees, and their friends. And then they would determine if the individual in question were guilty or innocent. But it really made no difference if they were innocent or not. Once the y were brought before Congress, their careers were basically ruined. Movie companies refused to hire them. They were afraid that the people would boycott any movies they made, if they hired Communist sympathizers (Matusow, 88). And when the accused did get jobs, the people did not want to go see Dirty Communist bastards