Mccarthy

Throughout the early 1950’s, the nation was deeply engrossed in fears of a Communist takeover. At a time when America’s fears were at their very height, Joseph McCarthy, a Republican Senator from Wisconsin pushed America’s fears to an extreme. As a ploy to get himself re-elected, and to make America hate Communism as much as he did, the Senator devised a devious scheme. McCarthy, while giving a speech, held up a piece of paper and exclaimed, “I have here a list of 57 known Communists who are currently employed by the U.S. State Department'; (Fried, 89). A few days later, McCarthy raised the number of people on the list from 57 to 205. The reaction to McCarthy’s announcement was absolute panic. Until that time, the nation had a sense of security. Now all peace of mind was lost, and America wanted these people that were on McCarthy’s so called “Blacklist'; (Fried, 65). So began a long-term search by Congress to seek these individuals. One group that was extensively looked at was Hollywood. By Joseph McCarthy abusing his powers, he not only destroyed many people’s lives, but he also wronged the American public.

To begin with, the type of person that Joe McCarthy was must be considered. McCarthy was a hard-line Republican who played along strict party lines. By all considerations, he was an extremist or a reactionary. By holding a piece of paper, and saying that the enemy who everyone feared was so close, McCarthy diminished all thoughts that America was truly safe. The actual piece of paper was blank; McCarthy had no writing on the paper at all. He knew that by telling the people of the U.S. that the enemy was so close, he could finally see a war erected against Communism. He simply used the people’s ambitions and fears to make a mountain out of a molehill. Communism in America before McCarthy’s debacle was simply a buzzword. Everyone knew about it, but no one ever talked about it. The first knowledge many American’s had of Communism came from Winston Churchill’s “Iron Curtain Speech'; (Matusow, 45). Churchill basically said in his speech that the Soviet Union was pushing forward a global Communist takeover. And Churchill also said that he believed, “We should not let such a force loose on th...

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...had to say about it was “Vote McCarthy'; (Fried, 104).

In summation, Joseph McCarthy ruined many lives and caused general panic in America. McCarthy was the type of person that would do whatever it took to get what he wanted. By all means he was an opportunist, and he just disregarded the aftermath of anything he did. The people who had their lives destroyed in this entire situation lost years of work, finances, family, and homes. Many night of sleep were lost over that

Single blank piece of paper. Many careers were also lost over that same piece of paper. And in McCarthy’s mind, that piece of paper should have said “suckers';. Only since McCarthy played the entire country for fools. It is amazing how simple gossip can become so much more. In most ways this situation was identical to what happened in Salem. Congress conducted a modern day witch-hunt. The entire nation was left shocked and scared. They had more fears of an atomic bomb being dropped by the Soviet Union now then they ever had before. In some ways, a bomb was dropped. McCarthy basically dropped his own bomb on the country when he held up that piece of paper.