There are no asterisks on the Bill of Rights. There are no asterisks clarifying that our rights are contingent upon the state of national security or anything else. Our rights as citizens of the United States are inalienable. Yet, the first Red Scare, McCarthyism, and the War on Terror demonstrate how easily the American government and the American people themselves will sacrifice their own civil rights and liberties for the sake of feeling secure when there is a perceived threat, and many are inclined to take advantage of the situation for their own ends. The first red scare took place in 1919 after World War I after government officials feared a communist takeover similar to that of the Russian Revolution. This fear and the people who took …show more content…
American anxiety about communist revolution, which was heightened by economic anxieties of the time. After bombs planted by communists went off in eight cities the government and business leaders used the opportunity to stir up anxieties even more. A few months later, the Palmer raids occurred. During the raids, approximately 6,000 people were taken from their homes and interrogated and nearly 600 were deported. Thankfully, public support for the raids dwindled as people recognized that the raids were violations of citizen’s civil liberties. Once American’s decided that having their civil liberties violated over a handful of communists was not worth it, the raids ended. However, the red scare did continue in other forms throughout the …show more content…
Both those on the left and on the right held strong anti-communist sentiments. Conservatives established the House Committee of Un-American Activities (HUAC) which investigated those suspected of holding communist views in Washington and in industries that shaped public opinion, like Hollywood. President Roosevelt, despite being suspected of having a communist agenda by his opponents on the right, authorized the wiretapping of those suspected of violating the Smith Act which prohibited belonging to any group that held the intention of overthrowing the US government. Although both Democrats and Republicans held anti-communist sentiments, it wasn’t long before Republicans used these programs to their advantage to try to take down the Democrats by claiming their ranks were littered with communists. They succeeded with the conviction of Alfred Hiss, a Democrat accused of espionage who was ultimately convicted of perjury because the statute of limitations for espionage was up which gave the Democrats a bad
Before the “Red Scare”, the United States was a huge world power and was thriving in every facet possible. Its people could do as they pleased for the most part, and did not have to fear persecution for their beliefs or associations. The entertainment was reaching its prime with celebrities creating the greatest films and writings the country had ever seen (Pearson). This all changed in 1947, when President Harry Truman upset the waters. Earlier in the year, Truman ordered background checks of all the civilians in service. The results that this investigation found was unnerving. Alger Hiss, a high-ranking State Department official, was revealed as a Soviet spy. He was then convicted on espionage charges and served three years in prison. ...
The Salem Witch Trials demonstrated a hefty fear onto its residents because of their melodramatic belief that Satan was among their adolescents and themselves.(Salem Witchcraft) During both instances, when a group of people acts irrationally regarding the subject the event symbolizes, it would eventually ignite a spree of illegitimate accusations among others and slander.(Salem Witchcraft) A dread that could arise would be of the fact that your whole essence could be diminished because of a substantial accusation of being involved with Communism.(Red Scare) According to History.com, it states “Americans also felt the effects of the Red Scare on a personal level, and thousands of alleged communist sympathizers saw their lives disrupted.”(Red Scare) This would motivate such a fear that it would arrive in everyone’s lives at that time, especially government or popular figures.(Red
During the late nineteen forties, a new anti-Communistic chase was in full holler, this being the one of the most active Cold War fronts at home. Many panic-stricken citizens feared that Communist spies were undermining the government and treacherously misdirecting foreign policy. The attorney general planned a list of ninety supposedly disloyal organizations, none of which was given the right to prove its loyalty to the United States. The Loyalty Review Board investigated more than three million employees that caused a nation wide security conscious. Later, individual states began ferreting out Communist spies in their area. Now, Americans cannot continue to enjoy traditional freedoms in the face of a ruthless international conspiracy known as the Soviet Communism. In 1949, eleven accused Communists were brought before a New York jury for abusing the Smith Act of 1940, which prohibited conspiring to teach the violent overthrow of the government. The eleven Communist leaders were convicted and sentenced to prison.
During this time a variety of Americans were accused of being Communists or communist sympathizers and were victims of aggressive investigations by government committees and agencies.
The Red Scare created a fear among American citizens that made them point fingers at everyone, including people who they considered close to them or on their side before all of the chaos. Senator Joe McCarthy accused 205 people of being of the communist party but did not reveal most names on his list. Document 3 says “… first he had said there were 205 disloyal employees in State, then 57, before settling
It was perceived that the threat was posed by the communists. Due to this reason, the hysteria adopted the name the “Red Scare”.... ... middle of paper ... ... However, the minority groups started fighting for their rights so as to enjoy their privileges as stipulated by the constitution.
Typically the most basic civil liberties are found in a country’s bill of rights and then that country passes amendments as needed in order to grow the peoples’ civil liberties, or shrink them if need be. Now, in the case of the United States the people are not “granted“ civil liberties by the...
Then comes the red scare where the U.S. is involved with the war going on and people are starting to panic about the revolution. Bombing were becoming ...
The Red Scare happened during the Cold War when the US and Russia were threatening each other by trying to build more power than the other. At the time, Americans were very fearful of communists, so when one man named Joseph McCarthy, a Senator from Wisconsin, starting telling people that there were communists living among them, many people believed him (Westlund). The composition of The Crucible is about the Salem Witch Trials, but there are clear parallels that can be connected to the McCarthy Hearings. The people in Salem were afraid of witchcraft and many people believed accusations because they were afraid. The comparison was very controversial and ended up getting Arthur Miller accused of communist affiliation. The Salem Witch Trials and the McCarthy Hearings are compared in The Crucible and there are clear parallels seen in the story
The Red Scare in the 1950’s was actually America’s second red scare. The 1920’s red scare was what helped start suspicion over Communists, but was put off during World War 2. It was no coincidence that what many people called the second red scare ignited after World War 2, during the Cold War, in the 1950’s. The 1920’s red scare started because Americans were paranoid over the fact that Russia may seek revenge after they had overthrown a royal Russian family in 1917. What started Communist ideas in the U.S at the time was the fact that since the war was over many of people were out of jobs which caused people to ask how efficient was the government. The most successful and noteworthy of all the Soviet parties in the 1920’s had to be the International Workers of the World, which was also called the I.W.W or the Wobblies. The Wobblies first strike was on January 21 1919 where about 35,000 shipyard workers struck. They were immediately labeled reds, or Communists. After the first strike mass panic struck the U.S and many major chain stores had to reassure their customers that their workers would not revolt. A mayor named Ole Hansen from Seattle took the Wobblies strikes personally. Strikes continued over the next 6 months and were labeled as “crimes against society”, “conspiracies against the government” and even “plots to establish Communism”. This was when Attorney General A. “
The war was over. The last cry of help had been heard and peace was supposedly coming to the United States. But everyone was wrong. An ideological war which prompted mass paranoia known as the Red Scare had spread through the US. It began in 1919 and ended in 1921. Red Scare was the label given to the actions of legislation, the race riots, and the hatred and persecution of "subversives" and conscientious objectors during that period of time.
Many Americans were being taught that communists were the enemy from when they were young, so it created a generation that had so much hate and were so scared of the communist influence. In the education system, it was now integrated into the
Red Scare America 1920 World War I was finally over, however, there was a new threat to Americans. The. This threat was Communism, which was greatly feared by most. U.S. citizens. Communism is "a system of social and economic organization" in which property is owned by the state or group, to be shared in common.
The attitude of the citizens of the United States was a tremendous influence on the development of McCarthyism. The people living in the post World War II United States felt fear and anger because communism was related with Germany, Italy, and Russia who had all at one point been enemies of the United States during the war. If the enemies were communists then, communists were enemies and any communists or even communist sympathizers were a threat to the American way of life. "From the Bolshevik Revolution on, radicals were seen as foreign agents or as those ...
The red scare was a time where people were falsely accused of being communist spies, and would be sent to prison. If somebody hated their neighbor, a co-worker, or even a teacher they could just accuse them of being a communist spy. Some cases were even so severe as in the case with Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. They were accused for stealing information on the atomic bomb and giving the information to the...