Although there were various inconsistencies between the film and historical facts Good Night and Good Luck was overall accurate in its portrayal of the broadcasts featured on Murrow’s documentary series, See it Now, especially Murrow’s “A Report on Senator Joseph R. McCarthy”. Murrow’s transition from radio to television was effective due to See it Now which first appeared on television on November 18, 1951. As seen in the film, his program was organized and professional, using Murrow’s insightful commentary in addition to live interviews and images to further. Murrow’s “A Report on Senator Joseph R. McCarthy” was particularly famous because it was the. The report took place on March 9th, 1954, which was stated in the movie. There were many parallels between the film and Murrow’s broadcast in real life and actor playing Murrow actually quoted from the reporter’s famous …show more content…
On the other hand, the movie focused of Murrow’s program and exaggerated its effectiveness among the general public and the government itself. Despite these shortcomings, the film was an overall successful portrayal of the attack on McCarthy by Edward Murrow, the style of the 1950s, and the alarm of the journalists working during this Red Scare. The character in Good Night and Good Luck observed the injustice behind McCarthy’s numerous accusations, and Murrow and the CBS network were then able to defend the American people and the country’s standards of liberty and justice. Like Murrow stated in his “Reply to Senator McCarthy”, “We proclaim ourselves, as indeed we are, the defenders of freedom, wherever it continues to exist in the world, but we cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home”. Despite his fear of losing his position at CBS, he exemplified unfeigned patriotism in the fight against corruption within
When the Tydings Committee issued a majority report dismissing all of McCarthy’s allegations and condemning them as “a fraud and a hoax perpetrated on the Senate of the United States and the American people.” Republican members of the American sub-committee condemned the majority report and the Democrats who signed it and McCarthy turned his defeat into a victory through the great publicity he received. Soon after Tydings report was considered pro-Communist. Like the Salem Witch Trials lack of substantial proof, many people were willing to believe McCarthy’s charges without any evidence. Soon world events seemed to be playing into McCarthy’s hands and he could use it all against the Truman administration. McCarthy’s fame grew and he because more careless, and instead of hinting nameless lists, he started naming names.
Murrow held on October 25, 1958 followed with a speech from him on the stage. The movie flashbacks to Murrow’s life as a journalist and the efforts made in his television program, See It Now. It provided insight into the issues that occurred inside the CBS News building such as the decisions that Murrow bypassed by his Chief, William S. Paley. In addition, the screen paused to provide information that read: “Throughout the 1940’s and 1950’s America was overwhelmed with concerns about the threat of communism. Senator Joseph McCarthy made a public accusation that more than two hundred ‘card-carrying’ communists had infiltrated the United States government. Few in the press were willing to stand up against McCarthy for fear they would be targets (SITE MOVIE).” This showed background information how the fear of communism was a big issue in the 1940’s and 1950’s. In addition, the movie included many visual references to the issue of communism from previous recordings that show how McCarthy acts and what he says about
...that people can yet again fear that the communists might attack and send spies within to destroy their beloved country. Take the evidence from the Ohio County Women’s Republican Club when McCarthy stimulated the fear that Communism will spread and their spies will overthrow the democracy through traitorous means. Take the evidence of the Truman’s Response to McCarthy, Truman stated that the Kremlin must have put McCarthy there to cause turmoil and that must be a reason why he must have caused the country to go into a red scare. Take the evidence of the cartoon from Herb Block, which showed McCarthy drive his car into innocent people who had no influence of the communist and were scared by McCarthy’s ways of finding communists. McCarthy wanted to be well known and decided to start the red scare so that everyone else can fear and be aware of the communist everywhere.
A Documentary History (Paperback). Oxford University Press, USA, 1996. Scott, Peter Dale, Deep Politics, University of California Press; Reprint edition (June 22, 1996). Mitgang, Herbert Lillian Hellman's FBI File, Dangerous dossiers: exposing the secret war against America's greatest authors, New York: D.I. Fine, 1988, retrieved from a href="http://www.writing.upenn.edu/afilreis/50s/hellman-per-fbi.html">http://www.writing.upenn.edu/afilreis/50s/hellman-per-fbi.html/a>. Ted Morgan, Reds: McCarthyism in Twentieth-Century America, New York: Random House, 1st edition, 2003.
...y Wheeling speech created nationwide hysteria, and with its impeccable timing just days after the conviction of the State Official Alga Hiss for lying under oath about his association with the communist Soviet as a spy, fueled the fight on communism. (citation) McCarthy war on communism during the “Second Red Scare” did not leave any individual safe from accusations. He attacked government agents, entertainment industry workers, educators, union members, and alienated the left-wing Democrats. McCarthy helped to create the atmosphere of suspicion and panic with his growth in media coverage. McCarthy’s words made for big headlines and the media was quick to cover his stories. This exposure helped facilitate American approval of McCarthy and empowered him to make more accusations on those suspected of subversion. In 1953, McCarthy headed the Government Operations Commit
Although the Red Scare made McCarthy who he was he did not make it any better. Document 6 shows us a cartoon of 2 men driving in a car saying “It’s okay--- we’re hunting communists” This cartoon shows us the fact that people who thought they were doing the right thing ,such as McCarthy, were running their own people over in the process and still thinking that everything they were doing was justified because they were so scared. People running over others just made those people get up and wonder why they weren’t doing as much or why they weren’t as scared as those guys were, so naturally they tried harder. McCarthy was intensified by the Red Scare but his actions only made it worse. He was a state senator. A government official working for the good of our country. Citizens tend to have respect for people of his position and they also tend to listen. Document 4 states “While McCarthy is the worst sort of demagogue, many people listen when he yells, screams and sputters, because they are afraid.” This statement says it all. He may be wrong in his doings but people still look to him out of fear because he is a leader, a respected man, and also an excuse. Document 4 says “In addition to the persecution of many innocent people by this man, the greater danger lies, as you point out, in that those who should be eliminated from public life as being unfit or subversive, can now defend themselves by stating that it is merely
McCarthy had a way of carrying himself that radiated confidence, and had the ability to convince a whole crowd of something he had pulled out of his hat just moments prior. McCarthy had an elegant way about him, and this aided him in convincing thousands of people that an anti-communism speech was truly what was appropriate for Honest Abe’s birthday. McCarthy’s mentioning of Christianity can be found throughout his speech, such as his comment of, “…that this is the time for the show-down between the democrat Christian world and the communistic atheistic world.” McCarthy introduced the idea of communism being synonymous with Atheism by
Good Night and Good Luck starts of with Edward Murrow (Strathairn) giving a speech in front of, who the audience finds out to be, his friends and colleagues. Then the audience is hurled back to the early 1950s where Edward Murrow begins his assault on Joseph McCarthy. This first scene has Natalie (Borstein) and Millie (Abdoo), two secretaries for CBS, walking into the news studio with the song “TV is the Thing This Year” (Reeves) blasting in the background, while information regarding the search for communists is being presented. While the film is all in black and white this open scene with the upbeat music to compliment it give the feel of prosperity, which proves to be s...
The Crucible and Good Night and Good Luck are both pieces about the McCarthy hearing in the early fifties. The McCarthy hearings were hearings held by the United States Senate's Subcommittee on Investigations between April and June of 1954. The hearings were held for the purpose of investigating conflicting accusation of the United States Army and Senator Joseph McCarthy.
... middle of paper ... ... When people today hear McCarthy’s name, most automatically think ‘liar, he was crazy, he ruined peoples lives.’ Some people, however, would say that ‘yes, he may have been wrong on most of his points, but he knew what was happening and he had been desperately trying to warn the people about Communism.’
In Good Night and Good Luck, director George Clooney follows the conflict between outspoken television journalist Edward R. Murrow and anti-communist Senator Joseph McCarthy during the hard times of the Red Scare. Murrow uses his television show to expose McCarthy’s fallacious arguments, while providing his own opinion on the matter. He begins by defending former Air Force pilot Milo Radulovich as not being the Communist agent McCarthy charges him to be. Due to his radical messages against McCarthy, advertisers begin pulling their advertisements. Thus Good Night and Good Luck was placed at an undesired time slot on Sunday afternoons, and allotted five last episodes. The conflict between Murrow and McCarthy is so deep that due to his outspoken messages against a politician, the program eventually becomes subject to cancellation. Although his arguments are controversial for that time, Murrow shows courage while exposing McCarthy’s fallacious arguments, by displaying how McCarthy is making false accusations towards Radulovich.
It wasn’t just when the news was delivered but also how it was delivered. It had an influence because of the great personalities of Dick Smyth, Lee Marshall, Grant Hudson and others who dramatically and entertainingly delivered the news. They reported the news “dramatically” and with the “same energy as disk jockeys had snappy writing with alliterations, and a lot of short sound bites.” They were deejays without music. This dynamic combination of news reporting made for an amusing news report; that not only captured the audience, but also kept them tuning in.
“The Monsters are Due on Maple Street” is an episode from the popular tv series The Twilight Zone. Twilight zone was created by Rod Serling, and first aired in 1959. The series is a dramatic fantasy and science-fiction anthology. The episode “The Monsters are Due on Maple street” is based around aliens. At least from the surface the episode seems to be about aliens. The average viewer would not see that the episode also has a deeper meaning, one that relates to history. This episode is a great example of a term coined in the 1950s, McCarthyism.
“Good Night and Good Luck” impeccable historical accuracy is demonstrated by showing McCarthy in actual film. The Film easily found actors to play McCarthy’s part however actual film gives a view that no actor could. Seeing McCarthy as an actual human being gives a face to the watchers that an actor would not have done. Using the news reels the movie does helps illustrate the Red scares tension and paranoia. George Clooney incorporates the authentic pieces very well. Movie reviewer Jack Shafer, comments that “Clooney is an able director, artfully meshing the original documentary film” (Jack Shafer). Incorporating these documents lets Joseph McCarthy’s actions speak for themselves. Many of Edward Murrow’s Speeches from this movie contain authentic material. According to Times Staff Writer, Kenneth Turan, “A big chunk o...
Encyclopedia of the New American Nation. Television – Tv news and the early cold war. 2013. Web. 15 Dec. 2013.