Red Scare Essay

Register to read the introduction… In America there have been two Red Scares that occurred, one in the 1920s and the other in 1950s. Both Red Scares in America arose out of fear of communism and foreign policy that could have impacted America greatly, especially since both Red Scares occurred after World War One and World War Two. After World War Two the United States developed a policy of containment to try and stop the spread of Communism. After the Second World War the United States entered the Cold War against the Soviet Union. The first Red Scare occurred after the end of the First World War and during the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. The reason Americans started to grow fear in communists and anarchists was due to a series of bombings by anarchists. Because of the Red Scare in the 1920s many people that were innocent were arrested because they expressed their views. As well, civil liberties were ignored and this lead to a fear that a revolution in the United States, like the Bolshevik Revolution would occur. The people who were suspected, or thought to be a communist or an anarchist, during the first Red Scare were those who did not seem as patriotic as everyone else or were not as patriotic as they could have been. The government responded to this Red Scare in the form of the General Intelligence Division of Bureau of Investigation, which was created to uncover Bolshevik conspiracies and to find and incarcerate …show more content…
Besides that Senator McCarthy targeted Democrats associated with the New Deal policies introduced by Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1930s, which ironically was the time when Senator Joseph McCarthy was still a Democrat and still supported Democratic views. Senator Joseph McCarthy even accused Harry S. Truman who was portrayed by Senator Joseph McCarthy as a dangerous liberal and members of his Democratic Administration, such as George Marshall and Dean Acheson, of being soft on …show more content…
Drew Pearson who earlier stood up to Senator Joseph McCarthy had radio shows were he would disprove Senator Joseph McCarthy’s claims on who was or was not a communist, which caused a rivalry between Drew Pearson and Senator Joseph McCarthy. Senator Joseph McCarthy even accused Drew Pearson of being the voice of international Communism and a Moscow-directed character assassin. As well Senator Joseph McCarthy helped raise money to help Fred Napoleon Howser, the Attorney General of California, so he could sue Drew Pearson for $350,000 as Howser was suing for libel (anything that is defamatory or that maliciously or damagingly misrepresents). The libel resulted from Pearson having reported in 1948 that Howser had ties to gamblers, as Howser had accepted money from a well known Long Beach gambler. Although Senator McCarthy attempted to get him Drew Pearson sued, his attempts were unsuccessful as Drew Pearson was ruled by the courts to have not committed libeled against Howser. McCarthy’s rivalry with Pearson is of great importance because he tried to get Pearson sued, meaning he saw him as a threat. This further leads into the possibility that McCarthy had false information as he worried that Pearson was disapproving of his accusations, further