In the mid-1900’s, communism was a big issue worldwide. Communism is a political theory created by Karl Marx in which everyone essentially gets an equal share in society, including the fact that houses are publicly owned by the government. The controversial issue to this concept is that some jobs make money than others, so people of a higher class didn’t feel like they were getting their fair share. The case and trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg has to do with communism because the couple was accused of committing espionage against the United States. Showcased in the article “Case Against Rosenberg Falls Apart,” published by Achieve3000, Americans were afraid of communism, and the acts by the government were very impactful to society. To …show more content…
Truman created a program to investigate federal employees in 1947. This program was established to show that he was working his maximum to prevent communism from entering the states. For instance, “In 1947, under pressure to show that he was making every effort to prevent the spread of communism, President Harry S. Truman established a program to investigate federal government employees.” (2) Since there was no penalty for perjury, the government couldn’t fire the guilty federal employees; however, others were fired because they couldn’t prove loyalty to the U.S. government. People who got fired had their name publicized—it was a very tedious process for them to get a job after the fact. The president’s response and the outcome of this response had much impact on other people’s lives, for some who were presumed innocent had their life that lasted ahead of them ruined. 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
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 opposing look on communism sparked a massive conspiracy theory that set neighbours, friends and family against each other. People were accused of being communists, and, in order to free their name and the risk of being blacklisted, they had to give the names of other that were communists. This set off a long chain of innocent people that were accused by people trying to free t...
America, throughout the ages, has always despised Communism and Communistic beliefs; however, during the 20s to around the 90s, there was a deeper hatred for Communism and a fear that lingered in most Americans’ hearts. Communism is a political theory that was derived from Karl Marx, advocating class war and leading to a society in which all property is publicly owned and each person works and is paid according to their abilities and needs. The majority of Americans strongly disagreed with
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.
Communism is everywhere. And many people were involved in communism around the world especially during the 1950’s. One main person involved in american communism was Joseph McCarthy. McCarthy, although negatively, was very much involved in the search for communists in the United States of America.
It is the year 1952, and I, President Harry Truman, have an important case to address. John Carter Vincent has been investigated, finding reasonable doubt of his loyalty to the government. However, there is no certain evidence of such disloyalty, but as president, it is necessary to terminate Mr. Vincent to protect American citizens. As the leader of our nation, it is important for me to end any idea of Communist acts.
Karl Marx never saw his ideals and beliefs, as the founding father of communist thought, implemented in the world and society because he died in 1883.1 The communist ideology did not rise to power until the beginning of the 20th century. Then it would be implemented and put into practice in the largest country in the world producing a concept that would control half of the world’s population in less than 50 years. The Manifesto of the Communist Party, written by Karl Marx and Fredrick Engels, searched for a perfect society living in equality and united in freedom. According to Marx this could only be accomplished in an anti-capitalist society.2 When their ideals where implemented in the 20th century, their message became warped and disfigured by the leadership of the worlds’ communist powers. Communism became in some ways more and in others less than Marx had first envisioned so many years before in 1848. Marx’s sought a social “Utopia,” while modern communist thought became a view of world domination.3 Many of the centralized governments of modern communism have fallen apart toward the end of the 20th century, confronted with concepts of self-government and revolution. Therefore, it is vital to document the rise and fall of modern communism throughout the world, and review the modern communist thought as it contrasted with that of Marx and Engels over 150 years ago.
As a direct consequence of World War I, which ended in 1918, Communism emerged. Communism is an ideology that combines social and economic systems to what is depicted as an equal society, where an emphasis is placed on production for use . During the Great Depression, in the 1930’s, the lives of many people were changed drastically; the number of unemployed was great, and the amount of employment available was minimum. As a result those who wanted work, took what was available, even if it meant receiving a minimal amount of money just to survive, if that.
The Rosenberg trial, which ended in a double execution in 1953, was one of the century's most controversial trials. It was sometimes referred to as, "the best publicized spy hunt of all times" as it came to the public eye in the time of atom-spy hysteria. Husband and wife, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, were charged with conspiracy to commit espionage. Most of the controversy surrounding this case came from mass speculation that there were influences being reinforced by behind-the-scenes pressure, mainly from the government, which was detected through much inconsistencies in testimonies and other misconduct in the court. Many shared the belief that Ethel Rosenberg expressed best as she wrote in one of her last letters before being executed, "-knowing my husband and I must be vindicated by history.
Ironically, Communism has never existed anywhere. There has never been a system implemented in our entire history by which a society has been utterly classless. Communism would be a type of egalitarian society with no state, no privately owned means of production and no social class (Wikipedia). Today there is a selection of “Communist” states that exist in a variety of locations on our globe. Sadly, all of the claimed Communist states including the late Soviet Union were and are despicable and corrupted examples of the idea of Communism. By using Stalin as an example it is quite possible to portray to the reader a simple and effective example of the flip side of attempted Communism. Stalin took control of a weak government and crafted an illusionary Communist state. Ironically, Stalin had set himself up as the dictator of a completely totalitarian society. By using the people of Russia, he was able to harness the government and use it for his own needs. This is quite similar to 1984 with the concept of Big Brother. Although Big Brother is not a person, the inner society that controls “him” creates a Stalinist nation; this was quite purposefully included by Orwell.
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 ...
McCarthyism was an unnerving development in the political landscape of the United States. World War II was a war like humanity had never seen before. The atom bomb was dropped on Japan twice; ending the war soon thereafter. Relations with the Soviet Union had been deteriorating due to factors such as ideological differences, conflicting interests in Europe, and the discovery by the Americans that their Russian ally had spied on their Manhattan Project. Angry at Stalin’s annexations from the war President Truman and most Americans who had no Socialist sympathies grew to see the Soviet Union as a threat to peace and democracy. Fears of a soviet nuclear weapon fanned the flames. Indeed, it would only be four years after the war when Russia
He called for a new organization having direct Presidential supervision, "which will procure intelligence both by overt and covert methods and will at the same time provide intelligence guidance, determine national intelligence objectives, and correlate the intelligence material collected by all government agencies." Despite strong opposition from the military, the State Department, and the FBI, Truman established the Central Intelligence Group in January 1946. Later under the National Security Act of 1947, the National Security council and the Central Intelligence Agency were established. In 1949, the Central Intelligence Agency Act (also called "Public Law 110") was passed, permitting the agency to use confidential fiscal and administrative procedures and exempting it from many of the usual limitations on the use of federal funds. The act also exempted the CIA from having to disclose its "organization, functions, officials, titles, salaries, or numbers of personnel employed." It also created a program called "PL-110" to handle defectors and other "essential aliens" outside normal immigration procedures, as well as give those persons cover stories and economic support. The Central Intelligence Agency reports to U.S. Congressional committees but also answers to the President directly.
The Soviet Union and America were allies in WWII during 1943. According to Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, the U.S. did not share information with the Soviet Union because they were worried about the Soviets' intentions. In 1949, the Soviet Union started to make atomic weapons. According to Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, some U.S. people working on the Manhattan Project gave up information to the Soviets because they had pity on them. Thomas Reeves states on page 421, the Rosenbergs were the first American civilians to be executed for spying during the war. The Rosenbergs were an American famil...
In the 1950’s, the Soviet Union gained information on the atomic bomb with the help of two Americans. The couple, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, suffered greatly for their crime. The Rosenbergs, having committed a crime of espionage on the US, had a large impact on not only the nation, but the world. This was due to their historical execution.