What was mccarthyism and the second red scare

That evidence indicated that scholars had underestimated the success of Soviet espionage in the United States as well as the extent of Soviet control over the American Communist Party.

Alger Hiss, contrary to what most liberals had believed, and contrary to what he maintained until his death in , was almost certainly guilty of espionage. The new evidence did not resolve scholarly differences, but it produced a more complicated, frequently less romantic view of the American Communist Party CPUSA. The paradoxical lesson from several decades of scholarship is that the same organization that inspired democratic idealists in the pursuit of social justice also was secretive, authoritarian, and morally compromised by ties to the Stalin regime.

The opening of government records also afforded a clearer view of the machinery of the second Red Scare, and that view has reinforced earlier judgements about its unjust and damaging aspects.

Scholarship since the late 20th century has tried to transcend the old debates by turning to new approaches. Comparative studies have been useful in exploring the interaction between popular and elite forces in generating and sustaining anticommunism.

Michael J. These and other local- and state-level studies demonstrate that the intensity of Red Scare politics was not a simple function of the strength of the Communist threat. Rather, Red Scares caught fire where rapid change threatened old regimes.

Varying mixtures of elite and grassroots forces mobilized to defend local hierarchies, whether of class, religion, race, or gender. Attention to gender as a category of historical analysis has added another dimension to our understanding of the second Red Scare.

Domestic anticommunism was fueled by widespread anxiety about the perceived threats to American masculinity posed by totalitarianism, corporate hierarchy, and homosexuality. Congressional conservatives used charges of homosexuality—chiefly male homosexuality—in government agencies to serve their own political purposes. High-ranking women in government too were especially frequent targets of loyalty charges, as conservative anticommunists tapped popular hostility to powerful women to rally support for hunting subversives and blocking liberal policies.

A related trend in the literature situates McCarthyism within a longer anticommunist tradition. Aided by newly accessible materials such as FBI files and the unpublished records of congressional investigating committees, historians are documenting in concrete detail how the fear of communism, and the fear of punishment for association with communism, affected specific individuals, organizations, professions, social movements, public policies, and government agencies.

In a useful survey of archival sources on McCarthyism, Ellen Schrecker suggests looking for evidence created by various categories of players: inquisitors, targets, legitimizers, defenders of targets, and observers.

FBI files on individuals and organizations are revealing both about the targets and the inquisitors; some frequently requested files are available online, and others can be obtained, with patience, through a Freedom of Information Act Request. Washington, DC—area branches of the National Archives hold records of surviving case files from the federal employee loyalty program Record Group The rich papers of anticommunist investigator J.

Matthews are at Duke University. The Tamiment Library and Robert F. Mudd Manuscript Library at Princeton University. Also at Princeton are the papers of Paul Tillett Jr. Because so many groups and individuals participated in the second Red Scare in one role or another, manuscript and oral-history collections in archives all over the country hold relevant material.

The Hollywood Ten documentary. Point of Order documentary with footage of Army-McCarthy hearings. Edward R. History New York: Berg, , — Curt Gentry , J. New York: Oxford University Press, See also Kim E. The U. Supreme Court upheld a Minneapolis sedition law in Dies was not alone; in , Governor John Bricker of Ohio, who was the Republican nominee for vice president, claimed that Communists ran the whole New Deal.

Storrs, Second Red Scare , 79—81, quotation , Storrs, Second Red Scare program statistics, Storrs, Second Red Scare , , — Storrs, Second Red Scare.

Ralph S. Brown Jr. Storrs, Second Red Scare , — Peters v. Hobby , U. Young , U. McElroy U. Seaton , U. In the early s, by contrast, the U.

Supreme Court had helped legitimize the Red Scare. Dennis v. United States , U. Richardson U. Watkins v. See Michal R. Norton, Dee, ; and Haynes and Klehr, In Denial. For example, John Sbardellati , J.

Lichtman and Ronald D. See also Don E. Carleton , Red Scare! Ellen W. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a single article for personal use for details see Privacy Policy and Legal Notice.

The era of McCarthyism was over. Ike had helped bring it to a bitter end. In the late s and early s, dramatic radio programs told tales of government agents on a quest to find Communist infiltrators who, in the words of one, "would undermine our America. David Harding, Counterspy began in as the story of an American operative fighting the Nazis, and the long-running program easily adapted to a Cold War narrative in the late s and early s.

Edgar Hoover calling on law enforcement officers, patriotic organizations, and individuals to report on anything that might indicate espionage, sabotage, or subversive activities. In this episode, from April , Matt Cvetic describes his undercover assignment: "For nine years I was living on the brink of a volcano, a volcano called Communism, a volcano which is centered in Soviet Russia but which is erupting all over the world. Comic books and pulp fiction magazines also brought the threat of Communism to life.

The Catholic Catechetical Guild of Minneapolis published these two comics for distribution in and In this November 24, , address over radio and television, McCarthy turned an attack on former President Truman to questions directed at Eisenhower.

McCarthy died of liver failure on May 2, He was seldom in his Senate seat and his advice, seldom offered, was little heeded. Grant Rutherford B. Hayes James A. Garfield Chester A. Roosevelt Harry S. For many Americans, the most enduring The Red Cross is an international humanitarian network founded in in Switzerland, with chapters worldwide that provide assistance to victims of disasters, armed conflict and health crises.

His aggressive methods targeting The Cultural Revolution was launched in China in by Communist leader Mao Zedong in order to reassert his authority over the Chinese government. Believing that current Communist leaders were taking the party, and China itself, in the wrong direction, Mao called on the Live TV. This Day In History. History Vault. Recommended for you. How the Troubles Began in Northern Ireland. Red Scare.

Red Sox Win World Series. Domino Theory The domino theory was a Cold War policy that suggested a communist government in one nation would quickly lead to communist takeovers in neighboring states, each falling like a perfectly aligned row of dominos. Joseph McCarthy During the late s and early s, the prospect of communist subversion at home and abroad seemed frighteningly real to many people in the United States. Red Cross The Red Cross is an international humanitarian network founded in in Switzerland, with chapters worldwide that provide assistance to victims of disasters, armed conflict and health crises.

Edgar Hoover J. Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution was launched in China in by Communist leader Mao Zedong in order to reassert his authority over the Chinese government. See More. This fear of communism did not just grip the federal government. In , the Ohio General Assembly implemented the Ohio Un-American Activities Committee, a joint committee of state representatives and senators charged with determining the influence of communism in Ohio.

The committee was based upon the federal government's House Un-American Activities Committee, and its members received sweeping powers to question Ohioans about their ties to communism.

Most of the accused were college students or people who had advocated socialist or communist programs to end the Great Depression in the s. Various grand juries eventually indicted the forty people, with fifteen of those accused being convicted for supporting communism.

Lausche generally opposed the committee's actions, but he faced great pressure from fearful Ohio citizens to continue his investigations. The governor contended that the committee's actions might put into "grave danger. As Lausche feared, the fervor of state and federal officials in rooting out communists led to major violations of civil liberties. By the mids, violations against civil rights had begun to convince many Americans to condemn the actions of the state and the federal governments.

This opposition brought the worst aspects of the Second Red Scare to an end by the late s, although many Americans would continue to fear communism and its influence throughout the Cold War era and beyond.

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