Essay on Joseph McCarthy and the Red Scare

Mccarthyism is defined as “a campaign or practice that endorses the use of unfair allegations and investigations.” Named after Joe Mccarthy, who used the fear of communism to accelerate his political career. During the late 1940’s, and early 1950’s, there were the years of shocks, and a red scare, along with a number of outrageous accusations and allegations made by Repbulican senator Joseph Mccarthy.  

Through the years 1948- 1950, there were a series of significant events, nicknamed the Years of Shocks. In 1948, Alger Hiss, A government official was accused of spying for the Soviet Union in the early 1930’s. There were two trials; the first trial was a hung jury with no final deliberation. Whittaker Chambers, the man who was accusing Alger Hiss of espionage, took investigators to his farm in Maryland, where he had secretly hidden rolls of film that supposedly had evidence of documents that Alger Hiss had copied to share with the USSR. The evidence was referred to as the “Pumpkin Papers.” Hiss ended up being convicted of perjury, but not convicted of espionage. One of the next main events in the years of shocks was in 1948, when the USSR blockaded roads into West Berlin, the allies agreed to airlift supplies into west berlin, rather than force through the blockade which was a potential risk to a WW3, the airlift worked and the USSR lifted the blockade 11 months later. In 1945 when the United States bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki thus ending the war, the USSR saw that and wanted atomic weapons of their own. Eventually, The USSR made and tested their own atomic bomb. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were accused of giving away the United States atomic secrets to the USSR, they were found guilty and were executed in 1953 by the electric chair. The years of shocks were a series of events that had a significant impact on how communism was in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s.

A red scare is the promotion of a widespread fear of a potential rise in communism. Communist were referred to as “reds”, showing the meaning in the name the Red Scare. There was a very real fear of communism spreading throughout the world. In China, Communist leader Mao Zedong wins the Chinese Civil War and turns the whole country communist. This is seen as a failure of the 1946 US containment policy put in place by former President Harry Truman. Communism really was spreading, and fast. Most of eastern Europe and Asia had been turned into communist countries. The soviet empire consisted of 15 countries. Many countries turned into communist countries and it spread throughout the world. 

In February of 1950, a repbulican senator by the name of Joseph Mccarthy, made a speech and said that he had a list of names with 205 “known communist” party members who work in the state department. In the next weeks his claims fluctuated with Mccarthy saying 57, or 81 or 10 communists. Mccarthy never had any solid evidence and out of those 205 names not 1 was proven communist. His biggest mistake was when he went after Army Generals saying that the United States Army was “soft” on communism. An associate of the Army’s chief counsel Joseph Welch said to Mccarthy, “Until this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness, Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last?” Mccarthy was shocked and ended his communist accusations, as the US senate decided to censure Mccarthy. Only a few people ever stood up to Mccarthy. Joe Mccarthy's outrageous accusations and allegations against others, accelerated his political career and ultimately ruined it.  

The years of shocks, and the Red Scare all paved the way for Mccarthy’s political career, many then current events greatly impacted his career and probably would have not had a very big career or impact without them.