In the 1950's World War II scared the public into fearing Communism. They were afraid that Communists would destroy the United States of America. The leader of the Anti-Communists was named Joseph McCarthy. He was a Republican Senator from Wisconsin. He believed that Communists along with “undesirables” were planning to overthrow the government. He decided to fight Communism by using the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC).
He tried to find Communists in the community by asking people to turn people who they thought were anti-American. This practice was called McCarthyism. Many people used this system to falsely accuse people who they had issues with. This turned into a big problem because people who were falsely accused named more people in order to avoid their own prosecution. McCarthyism also involved various methods of public humiliation. Among these methods was the utilization of televised public hearings. These public interrogations broadcasted intimate details of the accused person’s private life for all to see. Furthermore, the HUAC used blacklists to disrupt the lives of people they deemed “political threats”. If you were blacklisted, your accounts were frozen, you were constantly monitored, and most likely you could not leave the state.
McCarthyism eventually died out, and McCarthy died May 2, 1957. His legacy lives on in the play "The Crucible"
By Kevin and Alex
Good summary. The picture takes up a bit too much space, making the text on the side a little squished.
ReplyDeleteI like your writing style. It flows very nicely
ReplyDeleteGood amount of information, but work on beginning sentences with more variety. There was a section where 3 consecutive sentences all started with "He".
ReplyDeleteA very good summary, although the picture does make the first paragraph awkwardly positioned.
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ReplyDeleteWhat map, Victor??!?! Well, anyways, good post! The picture is a bit big, maybe centering it and letting the text all be in one paragraph would help. You describe McCarthyism aptly and in detail.
ReplyDeleteThis was very informative and detailed. You really went the extra mile by expressing such in-depth information. McCarthy was such an interesting man! Thanks for your hard work!
ReplyDeleteP.S. What are you talking about, Andrés?
Good work, your writing style is very easy to read.
ReplyDeleteI see various similarities between McCarthyism during the Cold War and the Bush Administrations actions towards "terrorists" during the "War on Terror." Basically, once the media targets a group as being bad most American citizens mindlessly believe the propaganda the US govt. puts out and goes along with it. During the Cold War if a person asked if communists were good or bad the obvious answer would be that they are bad. Today, as we look back at that are Communists really bad? Following this pattern through history, I asked today in my English class if terrorists were bad? The obvious response was of course. Terrorists are bad. But in the future, will this still hold true or are we just trapped in the same repeating cycle of history, never learning from the past and falling into the traps of deviant politicians of our past and present. The media has done such a good job at stereotyping terrorists it almost seems sinful for me even to question if terrorists are actually bad? But those who may accuse me of anti-government sentiments today may simply open their history textbook and find I am more or less as much innocent as many regular good doing Americans that questioned their government in the past. But, what happened to them. They were blacklisted and there lives were destroying by one ignorant man and an even more ignorant people. I look forward to the day when our people are educated enough to understand it when history starts to repeat itself. Will we ever learn from the past?
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