The McCarthy Era?

Question

I need help understanding the McCarthy Era. Can some of you answer these questions? Thanks if you do, because i'm completely stuck.

*What role did McCarthy play in the rise of communism?
*What events in the late 1940s and 1950s alarmed americans and led some americans to support McCarthy?
*What events led to the end of McCarhyism?
*What impact did the McCarthy era have on the Cold War?

Answer 1

1) Sen. Joseph McCarthy did not play a role in the rise of communism.



2) There were several events during the time period, that sparked America’s fear of the Soviet-led “red menace”. Soviet leader Joseph Stalin's refused to allow free elections in the nations occupied by Soviet troops, most notably Poland. He had promised the allies this very thing at the end of WW2.

Stalin also tried to wrestle control of the entire city of Berlin away from the allies. (Berlin was a “divided city”, the Western Powers of France, the US and the UK took possession of the western half, the Soviets the eastern half. But the entire city was still in Soviet-controlled East Germany.) Stalin closed any land access to the city, hoping to starve the West Berliners into submission. However, Pres. Truman took a firm stand and immediately ordered a massive air-life of supplies to the beleaguered city. After several weeks Stalin backed down.

China also fell to Communist forces and the Nationalist government had to flee to Taiwan.



3) Joseph McCarthy had a top aide named Roy Cohn. Roy Cohn was a homosexual. Cohn’s boyfriend, a man named G. David Schine, was drafted into the US Army. Cohn pressured McCarthy to try and get Schine released from his military commitment. When McCarthy tried to get Schine out, the chief lawyer for the US Army, a Joseph Welch, called him on it. McCarthy retaliated against the Welsh during a televised committee hearing. This short exchange would later be citied as the beginning of the end of Joseph McCarthy.

In the famous interchange, Welch challenged Roy Cohn to give up McCarthy's list of 130 communists or subversives in defense plants, "before the sun goes down." McCarthy then said that if Welch was so worried about persons aiding the Communist Party, he should worry about a man in his Boston law firm named Fred Fisher. Fisher had once, long ago, belonged to the National Lawyers Guild. This group was in the process of being designated as affiliated with the Communist Party, an affiliation the group vigorously protested. The fact that McCarthy mentioned any of this during the hearing was a violation of a mutual agreement. It had been agreed not to raise the issue because the designation was still in official litigation.

Welch responded, "Until this moment, Senator, I think I never gauged your cruelty or recklessness..."

When McCarthy tried to drown him out, Welch cut him off.

"Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator...”, he said, “You've done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?"

Basically Sen. McCarthy had challenged the US Army and lost. He had constantly, for the entire time of his hearings, gone on about Communist spies at all levels of the US government. He would wave pieces of paper in the air, which allegedly contained the names of known Communists who had infiltrated the US government. The number kept rising but he never let anyone see his list. The reason? The list was blank!

Joseph McCarthy never found a single Communist spy. He was wrong! Oh yes, to be sure, Communist spies did exist in American government at the time. But McCarthy never found one. It was almost a guarantee that if McCarthy accused someone, he or she was innocent. They might be extremely left-leaning, perhaps even Communistic but not one has ever been proven as a spy.

McCarthy was a drunk and quite possibly, a closet homosexual himself. This was quite ironic, since along with the homosexual Cohn, McCarthy destroyed the lives of many left-leaning homosexuals. They thought that the homosexuality of these persons could be used against them by Communist forces and force them to spy. The fact that John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and others, who had paired up with the hearings to some extent due to their own anti-Communist politics, never publicaly criticized McCarthy during his career only reflects badly upon them. (To their credit, they never imitated McCarthy’s tactics however.) The fact that strong anti-Communist Catholic politicians declined to criticize McCarthy for political reasons, it does not redeem McCarthy in any way. Neither does the fact that the Soviet Union, during the Stalin years in particular, was evil. McCarthy still hurt innocent people and did no damage to international Communism.


4) The impact on the Cold War was somewhat muted. America recoiled from the bulling tactics of the monstrous McCarthy but still realized that the Soviets remain a great threat to the US and the free world. Perhaps the biggest impact of the McCarthy era came in the domestic arena of US politics. It served as a reminder of the damage a crazed ideologue can inflict on a population already racked with fear.

Answer 2

"The McCarthy era should be a smear on the conservatives record" But it isnt. Why? Because McCarthy was proven right (venona papers) "it is seen in the history books as a bad time for American history." You mean revisionist history books.

Answer 3

Mc Carthy opposed communism. no role in the "rise'

In the 1950's it became plain that the communists treated the cooperation with the US during WW2 only as a decoy measure- vide the conquest of China by the communists with the blatant and massive military support from the USSR. The free elections in the East European countries (promised by the USSR) were a sad farce, with all the opposition ending up dead or in Goulags

The end of "McCarthyism" was due to two factors- one was that he stepped on too many toes- eg in the state department and in the Pentagon, which led to institutionalised sabotage of his efforts. As history proves, McCarthy was right and both these institutions ware chock full of soviet agents (among others responsible for the abandonment of China to communism)

Mc Carthy managed to slow down the progress of communism in the cold war. Without him, we just might be speaking russian- in a Goulag.

I'm Polish. We had the "communist heaven" as real life experience. believe me, contrary to the Hollywood hype, McCarthy was one of the good guys. which, BTW was also the opinion of President J.F.Kennedy, who also worked on the Committee (I bet you did not hear of that!) before going for the White House

Answer 4

All of those questions are easy to answer if only you do some minimal research instead of relying on others to do your work. Interesting figure in American history. Do some reading and learn about him.

Chow!!

Answer 5

Mc Carthy was right He was 'taken down' by the press Read the 1st post the man knows what'he's talking about!

Answer 6

Here are some sites that may help you better understand:

http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/50s/schrecker-age.html
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAmccarthyism.htm
http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/mccarthy/mccarthy.htm
http://www.colorado.edu/AmStudies/lewis/2010/mccarthy.htm