Joseph Mccarthyism Era

The McCarthyism Era symbolizes the pure terror of Communism during the time of the Cold War. The man associated with McCarthyism is named Joseph McCarthy. This time in history created pure madness in America. Joseph McCarthy upset our government by creating a fear of a Communist government and Victims of McCarthyism could never restore their reputations while the American Society locked into a time of uneasiness due to the fear of Communism.
Most historians consider the man born on November fourteenth 1908 as the least qualified, most corrupt politician of his time (Oh and Latham). Born into a large roman catholic family, Joseph McCarthy would soon make his claim to fame. In 1936 McCarthy ran for Shawano District Attorney unsuccessfully …show more content…
The people he accused would plead the fifth and McCarthy would say “ The most positive proof obtainable that the witness is Communist (Simpson).” A lot of the people that were said to be American Communist were left leaning political figures. Many of the people were Liberal Democrats, use to work for state departments, or people that were drunk all the time while working for the state departments. One of the many that was accused is Owen Lattimore. Lattimore had liberal views and was an acquaintance of Chiang Kai-Shek. Kai-Shek was a Chinese political and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China between 1928 and 1975 (Simpson). Lattimore was also a very outspoken individual and did not back down from anyone. He was accused of being the number one spy for the soviets and was charged with seven counts of perjury (Simpson). Owen Lattimore's reputation was ruined and now people looked at him like he was a trader and no one trusted him. Another person who was affected by McCarthyism was Val Lorwin. He ended up being fifty-fourth on the list McCarthy made. He worked in the State Department and served in the Labor section. He landed on the list when Harold Metz threw him under the bus and told people that Lorwin had shown him a red card for the Communist party and hosted a party at his home. The terrible part comes next when Metz had made a mistake. …show more content…
People lost their jobs for sounding like a communist and people were hounded by the police (Shmoop Editorial Team). Many people were even alienated from their families and friends would abandon each other because they did not want to get into trouble with the government. Many people were hostile to the idea of Communism taking over America. The communism concerns were strengthened by international phenomenons that were happening at this time in the world. In 1949 the Soviet Union successfully tested a nuclear bomb which sent the United States into a military frenzy. Later in that year Mao Zedong took control of China and forced China to become Communist (History.com Staff). The United States citizens feared that the “Reds” were going to come and take over our country. The American people had such a fear of Communism that they believed America would soon become Communist because of the advances of it in other parts of the world (History.com Staff). The fear of Communism back in the late forties and early fifties acted like a disease that never stopped growing until the government put a stop to it and let the American people know that we will always be a