Senator Mccarthy's Role In Cold War Politics

Decent Essays
One of the Cold War politics here in the US included McCarthyism, which was a political

campaign led by a Republican Joseph McCarthy to “blame liberals for setbacks to US interests

abroad and sympathies with communism” (Jones 2014, pg. 593). Especially in China and in

Korea, McCarthy also blamed the liberals of spying and sympathizing for the Soviets. One of the

significance of McCarthy’s ideology to find sources and to catch suspicion on the liberals’

actions in the US. McCarthyism also created the House Un-American Activities Committee,

which investigated un-American activities committee in Congress, suppressing all anti-capitalist

movements, also violation of the 1st amendment right including investigating the Hollywood

Industry, the television industry, and universities, which “destroyed the careers of famous
…show more content…
594).

McCarthy was an anti-communist, and as the Korean War enraged, he blamed the

Truman administration for being ‘soft’ on communism. Ultimately, the primary significance on

McCarthyism was fighting against communism and accusing the democrats for working for the

Soviets. US Senator McCarthy’s ideology was one of the major Cold War politics here in the US

and violated the 1st Amendment right, which created hostility between US and

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Mccarthyism Dbq

    • 513 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In the late 40s and early 50s the Chinese Nationalist forces under Chaing Kai-Shek fell to the Communist forces of Mao Zedong. This created a lot of fear in the American people. They witnessed almost all of China and Korea fall into communism. This created the Red Scare in which Americans started to become scared because they didn’t want to fall into communism as well. The Red Scare in which is what led into the creation of McCarthyism.…

    • 513 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    McCarthyism is essentially the “use of indiscriminate, often unfounded accusations, inquisitorial…

    • 541 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Why Is Joseph Mccarthy Bad

    • 1656 Words
    • 7 Pages

    McCarthy at this point was way too valuable, hence neither party wanted to bring him down. When China entered the war, McCarthy blamed Dean Acheson (Secretary of State) and after a while of tormenting, he moved to General Marshall to attack. In 1952, Eisenhower had become president and Mccarthy and Eisenhower weren 't on such great terms to begin with because Eisenhower did not like that McCarthy criticized Marshall, a friend of his. But with all that tension, Eisenhower kept quite on his views. Eisenhower refused to work with McCarthy and McCarthy gave him a hard time with almost every action…

    • 1656 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The term ‘McCarthyism’ was coined during this time because of senator Joseph McCarthy. McCarthy rose to prominence because he accused many of those in the government of being communist. This created a huge fear within the government and lead to a witch hunt much like the ones experienced in 1692 Salem. While McCarthy had no solid proof of communist actions he stated at a rally in West Virginia “I have in my hand 57 cases of individuals who would appear to be either card carrying members or certainly loyal to the Communist Party, but who nevertheless are still helping to shape our foreign policy …”(McCarthy). This statement was then later repeated at a rally in Salt Lake and drew the attention of the media.…

    • 649 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    1. What kind of social resentments are evident in McCarthy 's speech? In his speech, McCarthy most obviously resents the fact that five years after World War II, the United States is not at peace and instead they face the oncoming Cold War. At the close of the Second World War, McCarthy argues that “…men’s hearts should anticipate a long peace, and men’s minds should be free from the heavy weight that comes with war” (Foner 235), but this is robbed from them due to the increased tensions with the Soviet Union.…

    • 780 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Second Red Scare

    • 998 Words
    • 4 Pages

    McCarthyism comes from the name Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy. During the Red Scare, he expanded and abused his power. Anyone who seemed at all un-American was accused of being a communist; wrongly convicting anyone while creating a blacklist targeting multiple people including celebrities and placed them in jail. According to Storrs (2015), The American Communist Party was a serious threat to national security, government and nongovernment actors at national, state, and local levels developed a range of mechanisms for identifying and punishing Communists and their alleged sympathizers. For few, “espionage charges resulted in execution.…

    • 998 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    During the 1940s and 1950s the threat of communism within the Hollywood film and entertainment industry was greatly overstated. During the time that the House Un-American Activities Committee was active the U.S population was in the midst of a intense anti-communism movement in response to the Cold War. The HUAC with the support of public opinion was able to question almost any individual without negative backlash. This wild questioning of anyone when linked with the close connections between Federal Beau of Investigation and HUAC created what is historically viewed as a ‘witch hunt’ against communists. However, despite the fact that this threat of communist subversion was much overstated there is still some evidence of underhand activities,…

    • 1199 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    McCarthyism was a vociferous campaign against alleged communists in the US government and other institutions carried out under Senator Joseph McCarthy in the period 1950–54. Majority of the accused were blacklisted or lost their jobs, although most did not in fact…

    • 1043 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    During the 1940s and 1950s Communism was an issue that was spreading from Eastern countries causing Americans to be fearful of its encroachment onto US soil. With the Soviet Union gaining more power the possibility of contention, or worse, was a disquieting actuality for many Americans. After China was taken ahold of by a Communist leader and when Western Europe seemed ready to become predominantly Communist, US citizens began to feel that Communism had the potential to envelope them. This internal unrest helped pave the way for Senator Joseph McCarthy to take advantage of the situation and claim that the State Department “was full of treasonous pro-Soviet intellectuals” (1). The subsequent McCarthy trials essentially paralleled the Salem trials that took place nearly two and a half centuries prior.…

    • 688 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    When fear takes you by the hand and leads you into a life of chaos and recklessness, it's time to make a change. Fear was a motivator for wrong doings many times in history, and the mccarthy era is no exception to this dark plague spreading uncertainty into the depths of every man’s thoughts. Joseph Mccarthy was a normal kid growing up in a catholic family of Appleton Wisconsin. Joseph was a little rough around the edges and wasn't very good at school, “he began his journey to become what many historians consider to be one of the least qualified, most corrupt politicians of all time”(cold war museum 1). After serving in the marines in world war two, Mccarthy ran for wisconsin senator.…

    • 382 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    In the 1950s, Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin used the fear of communism to convince the American public that the Democrats were in bed with the communists to further his fame and political career. Joseph McCarthy said, “The State Department is infested with communists. I have here in my hand a list of 205—a list of names that were made known to the Secretary of State as being members of the Communist Party and who nevertheless are still working and shaping policy in the State Department. " The Cold War was occurring during this time period and the conflict was escalated by the victory of the communists in the Chinese Civil War. By scaring the American public, McCarthy drew massive media attention to him and won his next…

    • 692 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Joseph Mccarthyism Dbq

    • 2071 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Main Idea 2: While the Russian Revolution was unfolding during the turn of the 20th century, the United States just began to rationalize the fear of Communism because of the effect it could have on their Capitalist Democracy. American civilians and their government prided themselves on their enduring and prosperous ideology of economic isolationism by protecting the country and their sound economy by distancing themselves from radical ideologies such as Communism. As history, continued the Russian Revolution was successful in their goal by taking over power from the Tzar and restoring power to the people. The overwhelming political, social and economic concern in the United States during the 1940’s and 1950’s was the fear of Communism. In the year 1950, the term “McCarthyism” was created by Herbert Block, a writer from the Washington Post, that described it as “ the practice of attempting to minimize the threat of Communism by accusing and detaining…

    • 2071 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    During The Cold War, the conflict between democracy and communism teetered on the edge of nuclear war. A growing fear of apocalyptic doom led to the incarceration of falsely accused spies in the United States. Senator Joseph McCarthy added fuel to the fire by accusing legislators, actors, and other celebrities of having communist ties. The ensuing panic resulted in the execution of hundreds of innocent US civilians. Abroad, the two rival nations funded proxy wars and uprisings around the globe, causing thousands of deaths and creating political strife that lasted for decades (Thro, p…

    • 1888 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Profile in Courage In the midst of turmoil and chaos, one woman stood and did what she believed was right. It was nineteen-fifty, tension was running high and the fear of communism permeated throughout American society. Joseph McCarthy’s “Enemies from Within” speech furthered paranoia about communism and instigated rapid accusations, many of the accusations had no solid evidence at all. In the span of twenty-four hours from the “Enemies from Within” speech, Joseph McCarthy became a sensation.…

    • 909 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    The Cold War’s Social and Political Effect on America In world war II, America and the Soviet Union were allies. Their relationship throughout the war was tense. Due to paranoia and fear of communism from America and the Soviet Union’s resentment of America because of their delayed entry into the war, leading to many avoidable russian deaths, mutual hate and distrust of each other developed. This unfounded paranoia of both nations would, ultimately, cause the Cold War. (History.com, "Cold War History.")…

    • 1408 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays