McCarthyism

The Red Scare and Palmer Raids Between November 1919 and January 1920, at the height of the first Red Scare, the American Justice Department arrested thousands of people without warrants and federal authorities deported many arrested immigrants. Some of the prisoners were beaten and mistreated while in captivity. Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer determined that the “Reds” were a threat to America. Though not well defined, the term “Reds” generally meant those on the far political left,…

In the 1930’s, Hoover was instructed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to investigate various activist activities in the United States, such as Nazi and Communist espionage. Hoover despised any sort of “activist” activities, causing him to investigate the “Ku Klux Klan and Martin Luther King, Jr” (John Edgar Hoover). Hoover would go on to commit numerous illegal surveillance on those suspected to be a threat to the public (J. Edgar Hoover). The Media Creates a False Interpretation of Hoover…

The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a play about early America during the witch trials. In the Crucible a antagonist, Abigail Williams, had accused and had deadly sins and her dark heart blam people of witch craft, she also wanted to have an affair with a married man. One of the most responsible deadly sin in this play was lust and greed. Both play a key role in the story. Lust is what Abigail had, greed is what a lot of people had in Salem and some had lust and other deadly sins. Lust is an…

The Crucible and 12 Angry Men are two differing plays that unite in the aspect of the justice system. In both plays, we have the conflict that the accused are seen as guilty before the evidence is thoroughly looked into. A difference that sets the two plays apart is that the young girls accused of being witches are not given as much of a chance as the young boy accused of murder. This is due to the differing time periods in which both plays took place in. These similarities and differences are…

The Witch Trials This dramatic play that was created by Author Millers has been inspired throughout many. What play is it, one may ask? It deals with a heavy conscience, and a world of lies and bitter distaste for revenge, the play is The Crucible. The Crucible expressed many things seen in the real world today, in the sense that it includes revenge, hatred, the conscience, and most importantly sagacious actions taken by people. One of the most important points of view that the author tries to…

John Stossel, an anchor for various news shows, reports and comments on issues, usually political or economical. For example, in the video Stossel Communism and Capitalism, he reports over the issue of ignorance that Americans have when it comes to supporting causes and revolutionaries they know nothing about. He and Michael Moynihan discuss communism and why celebrities are clueless enough to support people like Che Guevara. People in America think that Che stood for issues like labor rights…

Imagine living in a world where everyone believes lies and condemns people for the lies. This is what it is like if you live in the United States during the Red Scare. The Red Scare is a time period in which Americans were afraid of communist spies infiltrating their method of capitalism. These claims, rumors, are made primarily by Joseph McCarthy. His accusations began to accuse well known people and destroy their reputations. Brinkley states, “Hiss, who was now out of government, denied the…

The major influencers of the 1940’s and 1950’s American film scene were the landmark anti-trust case with Paramount and the initiation of the Hollywood blacklist. Beginning in the run-up to World War II and lasting until the 1960’s these two elements shaped the persona of film in the United States. These two events caused the direction of Hollywood to favor independent filmmakers, reduce Hollywood’s influence on the motion picture distribution and presentation chain and removed qualified actors,…

The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) was form from 1938-1975. It was created to investigate disloyalty and rebel organizations. Investigation allegations of communist activity in the U.S during early years of the Cold War (1945-91). During the hearing, the suspected Communist was grilled about his or her political beliefs and activities and then asked to provide the names of other people who had taken part in allegedly subversive activities. Any additional figures identified in…

The House Committee on Un- American Activities (HUAC) was an investigating committee of the United State House of Representatives that operated during the 1930s to 1970s. Martin Dies was the first chairman of the Un-American Activities, which was established in 1938. At first, the role of the HUAC was to investigate a variety of political groups as well as subversive activities. Due to the Red Scare of the 1950, many hearings were structured towards investigating whether a person is a communist…