Why were so many Americans willing to support Senator Joseph McCarthy during the early 1950’s?

Answer 1

Same reason another group of people followed a guy named Hitler
Just a witch hunt

Answer 2

It did not happen in a vacuum.People were frighted and searching for a reason why so much was going wrong. You have only to look at the US since 9/11 to under stand the mood. People wanted an enemy they could do something about, instead of one the could not effectively attack. So when McCarthy pointed to one, they supported him for a time. In the 50's the enemy was not just the Soviet Union but internal communist in the US, now it is Saddam and whats' his name in Iran, as well as the terrorist organizations. In the months after 9/11 there were a lot of people who would have supported a rabble rouser looking for internal terrorists, and we have tolerated the government stepping on our rights. Here is time line

1948: February -- Communist takeover in Czechoslovakia
1948: June 24 -- Berlin Blockade begins
1949: May 12 -- Berlin Blockade ends
1949: September -- Mao Zedong, a Communist, takes control of China ( after winning civil war with nationalist, which our state department had predicted, and was therefore blamed)
1949: September -- Soviets explode first atomic bomb (partially due to getting US secrets from spies, the Rosenbergs, in the US}
1950: February -- Joe McCarthy begins Communist witch hunt
1950: June -- Korean War begins
1953: June 19 -- Rosenberg executions

Answer 3

Because people were afraid and they let fear over ride sense and decency. But also because they couldn't see what was happening. I have been told by people who remember that the tide turned against McCarthy when the hearings started being televised and people could see what a "mad dog" McCarthy was. I understand something similar happened in the civil rights movement when people could see the fire hoses, night sticks, tear gas and cattle prods being used against demonstrators. That is why it is very important to control the media if you want to do something that people would consider abhorrent but will believe is not happening if they don't see it.
What do you suppose is happening now that is not being seen on on TV?

Answer 4

because he replaced into, frequently, proper about his allegations. human beings supported him because the substance of what he claimed replaced into authentic--there replaced into extremely some infiltration of the U.S. authorities via Soviet spies and brokers. curiously, Bobby Kennedy replaced into on McCarthy's team, and he and JFK were supporters of McCarthy's efforts. JFK replaced into, no longer by the way, a staunch anti-Communist, as were each and each of the presidents from Truman as a lot as Jimmy Carter. McCarthy replaced right into a techniques from the in straightforward words Congressman attempting to discover the volume of Soviet espionage. the domicile Unamerican activities Committee and the Senate inner protection Subcomittee were also accomplishing investigations. regrettably, the information McCarthy gave were no longer that precise and he kept replacing the information . So McCarthy replaced into an uncomplicated objective for the Left, which replaced into desperately attempting to create a smokescreen to conceal the very actuality of Soviet infiltration of the federal authorities and discredit the full anti-Communist flow.

Answer 5

I would suggest that you read Erich Fromm's ESCAPE FROM FREEDOM to find out for certain how an idiot gets into power.

I can remember the McCarthy era and I certainly remember the CBS show with Edward R. Murrow ripping him apart.

Basically, McCarthy, Hitler, and even GW Bush all sustained their power by brokering fear.

Answer 6

Propaganda. Fear. It was terrible. I grew up listening to 'Better dead than red'. No one in the U.S. understood the concepts of communism and socialism. When the Soviets took over Eastern Europe and put up the Berlin Wall, it felt as if the world was coming to an end. Nearly everyone panicked and grew paranoid over who was a communist or who wasn't. Kind of like what's happening now with the paranoia over people practicing the Muslim faith and people who are Middle Eastern. Thankfully, many citizens of the U.S. have grown untrusting of Homeland Security (a big joke) and our 'wonderful, government leaders', whom I won't name, but you know of whom I write. Peace.

Answer 7

because Communism had as a stated goal, the enslavement of the entire world. it wasn't content to keep to itself, it had to overtake the entire world

Answer 8

From fear of being thought a communist

Answer 9

They were idiots.