Fear of Communism Leads to Injustice

1
Fear of Communism Leads to Injustice

• By Liz Hankins and Margaux DeChambre

English 3 / P.1
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What was Going on in the World

• During the late 1940s and 1950s, the Cold War was
  taking place.
• People began to question whether or not the ideas
  of Communism had been brought to the entire
  American government.

Information found from Emergence of
McCarthyism and The McCarthy Hearings 9.
3
What was Going on in the World

• The powerful Soviet Union began to provide aid to
  North Korea in order convert South Korea into a
  Communist government.
• The Soviet Union was gaining so much power
  through bombs and forces that the people
  throughout the world feared that they may
  eventually take over.

Information found from Emergence of
McCarthyism.
4
The Underlying Fear

• The fear of Soviet spies in the United States
  caused people to constantly be afraid of becoming
  a communist country. This helped McCarthy to gain
  more support for his anti-communist tactics.

Information found from The McCarthy Hearings 10.
5
The Underlying Fear

• This fear of the presence of spies caused people
  to then fear anybody in the country because they
  thought that anyone may have been a Communist.

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How Did it Start?

• McCarthy was craving power and was willing to
  make accusations against people that didnt have
  the same beliefs as him. During this time, the
  easiest way to gain power in this manner was to
  accuse someone of being a Communist.

Information found from The McCarthy Hearings 10.
7
How Did it Start?

• These accusations raised peoples anxiety levels
  and caused them to believe McCarthy because he
  appeared to have all of the answers and facts.

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How Did it Start?

• In February 1950Senator Joseph R. McCarthy
  (R-Wis.) made a speech at the Ohio County Womens
  Republican Club meeting in Wheeling, West
  Virginia, claiming that he held in his hand a
  list of 205 card-carrying Communist Party members
  working for the U.S. State Department
  (Emergence of McCarthyism).

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Scapegoats

• He believed that anybody in America could have
  been a Communist.
• McCarthy mainly blamed people in the government,
  Hollywood, and academia.
• He believed people in Hollywood may have been
  putting rebellious messages into their films.

Information found from Emergence of
McCarthyism and The McCarthy Hearings 10.
10
Scapegoats

• He chose these people because he had something
  against them or they had obvious reasons to be
  blamed.
• He accused these people based on political
  affiliations, race, or sexual preferences (The
  McCarthy Hearings 10).
• He also blamed these people because he wanted
  more power.
• By putting other people down, he was moving up in
  the chain of authority.

Information found from Emergence of
McCarthyism and The McCarthy Hearings 10.
11
Who Did the Blaming?

• Senator Joseph R. McCarthy did all of the blaming
  in order to gain more power.
• He was campaigning as an anti-Communist, and he
  was winning through peoples fears.
• Following McCarthys accusations, the House
  Un-American Activities Committee and government
  loyalty programs also held investigations.

Information found from Red Scare and
Emergence of McCarthyism.
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Immediate/Direct Effects

• People lost their jobs and suffered without them.
• Everyone lived in fear.
• No one trusted anyone for fear that they would be
  a secret Communist.
• A widespread belief of Communist take-over began
  in the United States.

Information found from Emergence of
McCarthyism and Red Scare.
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Long Term Effects

• People who lost their jobs were never reinstated.
• Those who were accused were not perceived the
  same way or with the same respect as they were
  before.
• The United States did not become a communist
  country.

Information found from Red Scare.
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Long Term Effects

• McCarthys witch-hunts led to his downfall
  (Emergence of McCarthyism).
• The Army-McCarthy hearings were highly publicized
  and caused people to not support McCarthy
  anymore.
• By a vote of 67 to 22, McCarthy was condemned by
  his fellow senators.

Information found from Emergence of
McCarthyism and Red Monday Rulings Reverse
Effects of McCarthyism.
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Connections to The Crucible

• Everyone believed McCarthy had all of the
  solutions.
• They supported him out of fear.

• In Arthur Millers, The Crucible, most of the
  town believed Abigail had all of the answers and
  followed her.
• Proctor explains, I am only wondering how I may
  prove what she told me, Elizabeth. If the girls
  a saint now, I think it is not easy to prove
  shes fraud, and the town gone so silly (The
  Crucible 193).

Information found from Emergence of
McCarthyism and The McCarthy Hearings 10.
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Connections to The Crucible

• In the McCarthy trials, witnesses were badgered
  and lives ruined by charges of communist
  subversion that proved to be largely groundless
  (Russell).

• The accusations in Salem also ruined the lives of
  the accused and of their friends.
• The charges of witchcraft were mainly groundless
  because there was minimal proof.
• As Danforth states, But witchcraft isan
  invisible crime (The Crucible 215).

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Works Cited

• Emergence of McCarthyism. History in Dispute,
  Vol. 19 The Red Scare after 1945. Robbie
  Lieberman, ed. St. James Press, 2004.
  Reproduced in History Resource Center.
  Farmington Hills, MI Gale Group.
  lthttp//galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/HistRC/gt
• Red Monday Rulings Reverse Effects of
  McCarthyism, June 17, 1957. DISCovering U.S.
  History. Online Detroit Gale, 2003. Student
  Resource Center Gold. Thomson Gale. MAINE
  TOWNSHIP HIGH SCHOOL SOUTH. 23 Oct. 2007
  lthttp//find.galegroup.com/srcx/infomark.do?cont
  entSet GSRCtyperetrievetabIDT001prodldSRC-
  1docldEJ2104240243sourcegalesrcprodSRCG use
  rGroupNamepark70748version1.0gt

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Works Cited

• Red Scare. Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia
  2005. eLibrary. Maine Township District 207,
  Park Ridge, IL. 23 October 2007
  lthttp//elibrary.bigchalk.com/libweb/elib/do/docu
  ment?setsearchgroupid1requestid...gt
• Russell, Gail. The Red Scare revisited Inside
  McCarthy files. Christian Science Monitor 6 May
  2003 Vol. 95 Issue 112, p1, 0p, 1c. EBSCOhost.
  Maine Township District 207, Park Ridge, IL. 23
  October 2007 lthttp//web.ebscohost.com/src/delive
  ry?vid5hid116siddce30832-el4c- 48db-9d41-...gt
  
•  The McCarthy Hearings. Farmington Hills, MI
  Greenhaven Press, 2003.