The end of World War I, according to some European historians, occurred on May 8, 1945 or V-E Day. A day marking the change of the world’s enemy from Nazi Germany to Communist Russia. Fears of Communism, the totalitarian government of Soviet Russia, were invited through the use of propaganda in the media by the United States government. Illustrating this type of propaganda is the motion picture, The Red Menace released in 1949 by Republic Motion Pictures provides acumens of the fears and concerns on the minds of Americans during a period in America’s history known today as the Cold War. Specifically careful examination of events in the years leading up to the film’s release, in combination with its characteristics and tones and the comparisons Edgar Hoover eludes to these same themes in his 26 March 1947 testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee. “The Communists have developed one of the greatest propaganda machines the world has ever known. The… propaganda technique is designed to promote emotional response with the hope that the victim will be attracted by what he is told the Communist way of life holds in store for him.” Linking these channels of propaganda are the themes of psychological, physical, technological and social dangers of political establishments more similar to Communism than Tactics described as feeding off the frustrations of their victims, like those of Bill Jones, the main characters in The Red Menace. While at the Office of Veteran’s Affairs Jones becomes frustrated and angry with the governments lack of action to protect veterans of the war against money scams prevalent in the post-war years. The film shows a man hanging out at the Veterans Affairs Office, waiting for some poor frustrated and angry veteran. Following Jones out of the building the man approaches him and offers sympathy for his plight. Unknowingly veteran Bill Jones has been caught up in the web of deceit that Hoover associates with the Communist
One of the biggest fears of the American people is that the concept of communism contrasts drastically from the concept of capitalism, which the United States was essentially founded upon. The United States, as the public believed, was not a land of perfect communal equality, but rather a land of equal opportunity. However, what made communism so dangerous can be succinctly described by Eisenhower who compared the spread of communism as the domino effect. As his secretary of state, Dulles, put it, the propagation of communism “would constitute a threat to the sovereignty and independence” of America (Doc B). In addition, the Cold War also planted the seeds of rational fear of a global nuclear war. As Russia caught up to the United States in terms of technological advancements, they successfully developed the atomic bomb as well as the hydrogen bomb, which caused Americans to believe that the USSR would use these weapons of mass destruction to forcefully extend their ideologies to the USA. In fact, Americans were so frantic about a potential nuclear disaster that it...
The Australian film institute has been seeking recommendations on what Australian film should be included in an international Australian Film festival in late 2016. The inclusion of the film Red Dog should be definite and I am here to persuade you why. Released in 2011, Red dog is the retold story of the Pilbara wanderer. However this wanderer was not a human, he was a Kelpie that touched the hearts of many throughout Western Australia. Director Kriv Stenders has taken the true story of Red Dog and recreated it into a heart jerking film. During the film viewers are exposed to the history,
Communism has had an extremely negative impact on Americans—many people got fired for false accusations by the government. The case of Rosenberg has to do with this topic because Ethel Rosenberg did nothing wrong against the U.S., yet she was executed without evidence to support the government’s decision. Typical humans make harmful decisions when in fear, however, those decisions ensure safety for everyone
With the onset of the Cold War, a growing Red Scare would cripple American society – effectively plunging the nation into mass hysteria and unrest over the fallacious threat of communist infiltration. This reaction was precipitated by Republican senator, Joseph McCarthy, in his speech, “Enemies from Within”, delivered in Wheeling, West Virginia, on 9 February 1950. McCarthy paints communists in a particularly harsh light to generate anti-Soviet sentiment within the American public. He uses juxtaposition to engender both indignation and fear in the audience to achieve this effect.
Henry Fosdick once said, “The tragedy of war is that it uses man’s best to do man’s worst.” In “The Red Convertible” by Louis Erdrich, there is a conflict amongst two brothers, Henry and Lyman as ones awareness towards reality is shifted upon the return of the Vietnam War. Henry’s experience fighting in the Vietnam War is the responsibility for the unexpected aftermath that affects their brotherhood. The event of Henry fighting in the war through fears, emotions and horrors that he encounters is the source of his “Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome [PTSD].” It has shaped his own perception of reality and his relationship with his brother Lyman and the strong bond that they had shared.
the rise and fall of Senator Joe McCarthy, as well as the roots of the anti-communist attitude
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.
People around the globe rely on the media to interpret the events that occur in the world. They get the latest information about national and global news from the radio, television, and newspapers that have correspondents waiting to tell the story. People also heavily rely on the media during times of crises like war, economic insecurity, or other global events that affects their lives. One of the most impactful times Americans depended on the media was during World War II, which illustrated the triumphs and defeats of the war and its impression it left during the post-war era. It was around this time, movie clips and radio shows geared its messages towards patriotic themes that persuaded Americans to support the war.
Since the 1950s, most Americans have condemned the McCarthyite witch-hunts and show trials. By large majorities, Americans oppose firing communists from their jobs or banning communist speakers or books.[2] But over the past several years, increasing numbers of historians, writers and intellectuals have sought to minimize, explain away and justify McCarthyism. A spate of books and articles touting new historical evidence has tried to demonstrate that communism posed a real danger to American society in the 1940s and 1950s. They argue that even if some innocent people suffered and McCarthy was reckless, he was responding to a real threat.[3] As a result, Joe McCarthy doesn't look so irresponsible in hindsight.
The first reason Americans began fearing the Communist party, is due to the party’s association with Russia and Stalinism. Russia was the most widely known Communist state in the world and the American Communist party’s adoration of it was the best-known thing about them . This became a large problem for the American Communist party when Stalin became a terrifying figure to the average American as knowledge of his atrocities and betrayals began to leak past the Iron Curtain. While most of the American Communists “just didn’t believe” these rumours, the average person did, and they did not see a difference between the American C...
J. Edgar Hoover passionately feared Communism. Communism was not only a threat to the American way of life that his ancestors has worked to ensure for generations in in careers as civil servants, but it was also a threat to his deeply rooted religious beliefs. On June 2, 1919 as a bomb was thrown into the home of Attorney General, Mitchell Palmer, Hoover was thrust into a crusade against communism. After the bombing, Palmer began his infamous “Palmer Raids” which resulted in the in the arrests of more than four thousand alien communists nationwide, as well as the deportation of hundreds more. Attorney General Palmer needed a forthright man to do the job and J. Edgar Hoover, who at the time was working for the Alien Enemy Bureau, fit the part. In his role as special assistant to the Attorney General of the United States, Hoover was delegated with an organizing and orchestrating the arrest and deportation of known foreign radicals without due process. In the aftermath of the unconstitutional raids, Mitchell Palmer was disgraced, but J. Edgar Hoover rose to prominence and in 1925 w...
Beginning in the early 1950s, Senator Joseph McCarthy released a monumental rampage across the United States. For fear of governmental infiltration by Communists, an outbreak of accusations swept the nation as a result of the Wisconsin senator, and helped create what is known as the second Red Scare (“McCarthyism”)
Vivian Gonzalez Mr. Martinez-Ramos A.P. United States History May 3, 2000 McCarthyism was one of the saddest events of American history. It destroyed people’s lives and shattered many families. It threw innocent people into a whirlwind of mass confusion and fictional portrayals of their lives. McCarthyism spawned for the country’s new found terror of Communism known as the red scare. McCarthyism was an extreme version of the red scare, a scare whose ends did not justify the means. The Red Scare happened twice in the history of this great country. When the communist took over Russia in 1919, the American people were unnerved. They were afraid of a communist take over in the states. When the First World War ended in 1918, there was still an ideological war going on in a very divided United States. "The red scare was another sort of war—one against dissent and nonconformity. It changed the psyche and face of the United States as surely as did World War Two (Fariello, 24). This was a time in American History where panic and terror controlled the lives and the laws of this country (Fariello, 28). When in 1919 the newly appointed Attorney General, A. Mitchel Palmer, was abruptly awoken from his house by a bomb, everyone was seeing red, so to speak. Instantaneously fingers were being pointed in the immediate direction of the Communist Party. The Communist Party had reason, good reason to go after Palmer. He had used legislation passed in 1917 to deport many "communist" that were a threat to the American way of life. As was clearly seen in the Legislation passed in 1952. The Immigration and Nationality Act tightened previous restriction on aliens and heavily reduced immigration from nonwhites countries. It allowed for the denaturalization and deportation of citizens deemed "subversive," as well as the deportation of residents aliens for political activity. Removed deportation case from the courts by setting up own board unhampered by due process(Fariello, 18). American politicians were under the distorted impression that everyone that was not Anglo-American or came from Western Europe was a threat to national security. In response to this they passed a series of laws declining the immigration of people from Eastern and Southern Europe. They also passed laws deporting many of our own residents because of fear. "In t...
The film, Fruitvale Station, is based upon a true story of a young, unarmed African American male, Oscar, who was shot by a Caucasian BART police officer. The film displays the final twenty-fours of Oscar Grant’s lives going through his struggles, triumphs, and eager search to change his life around. There will be an analysis of the sociological aspects displayed throughout the movie that show racism, prejudice, and discrimination.
Opalisime After World War II there was a strong anti-communist movement in America for decades prior to the 1950s. Nuclear weapons also sent a shot at distrust and fear between America and Russia. Information about nuclear weapons is very limited to the public. There are some facts, details, and reasons on why this war happened, the effects of the Cold War, and how society reacted to the War. It began in the 1945-1948 timeframe and ended in 1989, having been a dispute over the division of Europe.