While I cannot take the time to name all of the men in the
State Department who have been named as members of the
Communist party and members of a spy ring, I have here in my hand a list of 205 that were known to the Secretary of the
State as being members of the Communist party and who nevertheless are still working and shaping the policy of the State Department. (Bayley, 1981,p.17)
This story is held responsible for sparking the McCarthyism era.
The incidents following it, represent a journalistic period paralleled to the Christian views of the Spanish Inquisition; a time period of branded embarrassment and horror never to be forgotten.
Later McCarthy said the number he gave in his speech was not 205 but 57.
The fact is that Desmond had a written copy of the speech before McCarthy gave it, but he could have changed the number to 57 when he actually presented the speech. Regardless, the number 57 would have been just as shocking as 205. The reporter's ethics and/or practices were questionable in handling this story.
Why he did not ask to see the list of 205 Communists? If he did, history may have been different, for as McCarthy said himself "what he held in his hand was the Byrnes letter, not a list."(Bayley, 1981, p.24) If Desmond had reported that
McCarthy was holding a letter, not a list, the newspapers would have handled the story much differently. A letter from one person to another, which suggests unfit employees, would have made much less news than the illusion of an actual list of names.
This lack of verification, was one of many press blunders that followed over the next few weeks. In general the press' poor practice would be carried out for the next five years. "I have here in my hand,..." was a phrase that
"became more popular than a famous toothpaste slogan,"(Belfrage, 1973, p.117) which he used on an infinite number of occasions to refer to documents he would pull from his briefcase to support wild accusations. The legitimacy of the documents much like that of the accusations seemed never to have been verified by the reporters on sight. The Byrnes's letter that McCarthy pulled out on
February 9, 1950 was one of these unchecked documents. The content of the letter gives us insight into McCarthy's ability to manipulate the facts, and cover his tracks just enough so that an unambitious, negligent reporter would help him spread his word.
The letter from which the number 205 is extracted is dated 26 July 1946, from Secretary of State James F.
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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, J. (1950, February 09). Speech at wheeling, west virginia. Retrieved December 02, 2013 from http://teachamericanhistory.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/mccarthy_wheeling_speech.pdf
the rise and fall of Senator Joe McCarthy, as well as the roots of the anti-communist attitude
Benson, Sonia, Daniel E. Brannen Jr., and Rebecca Valentine. “Joseph McCarthy.” UXL Encyclopedia of U.S. History. Eds. Lawrence W. Baker and Sarah Hermson. Vol. 5: K-M. Detroit: Cengage Learning, 2009. Print. 8 vols.
and not that he did this by his own choice. With this metaphor of a
Joseph Raymond McCarthy was a Republican Senator from the state of Wisconsin between 1947 and 1957. Between 1950 and 1954, McCarthy became noted for unsubstantiated claims that there were Communist and Soviet spies and sympathizers inside the federal government.
...it was. Fear makes people do things they normally would not. Because of fear people overlook things they normally would notice imediately, especially in the case of something being moral or immoral. McCarthy was described as "paranoid" and for whom "...life was a sereis of conspiracies, the most fiendish of which were directed at him..."(Cook p77). Fear was the greatest underlying cause of the McCarthy movement; fear of communism, fear of the loss of freedom, fear of being accused or fear of what would happen if someone challenged the movement.
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...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
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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.
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