Rhetorical Analysis Of The Red Scare By Edward R. Murrow

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Beginning in the 1950s, Senator Joseph Mccarthy undertook a campaign to remove all Communist influences from the United States government and workforce. The accused were blacklisted and lost their jobs, although nearly all were void of any Communist connection. This time period became known as the “Red Scare.” Edward R. Murrow, one of the country’s most famous journalists, dedicated an episode of his CBS program to discuss the state of fear and repression that had infiltrated American society. At the end of the episode, he delivered a concise, eloquent speech in which he left a lasting impression on the viewers to stand up to oppression and stop cowering in fear of the masses. In order to leave this message in the minds of Americans, he used multiple rhetorical strategies. …show more content…
He thinks that Americans need to defend their ideas in order to stop the chaos from continuing. Murrow repeats the words “fear” and “defend” so that those words are especially memorable to viewers. One sentence where he uses both of these words to display a main message is when he states, “Not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate, and to defend causes that were for the moment unpopular.” In this sentence, Murrow is telling the American people that they should not be okay with future generations descending from fearful citizens. He is making it clear that the Red Scare has made America an oppressive place, where there really is no longer any freedom of speech. People are scared to stand up against the masses, which Murrow thinks is an issue. By repeating the words “fear” and “defend” so numerously throughout his speech, Murrow wants the viewer to understand that they are living in fear and need to defend their beliefs, even if in a small way. Murrow believes that if no one defends themselves, the Red Scare is never going to

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