Solved by verified expert:The Discussion post should be 150 wordsRead the article “McCarthyism, Response to Communist Threat or Political Witch Hunt?” The article is available by clicking on “Discussion Articles” on the navigation tree on the left side of the screen. The article will present two sides of the argument.After you have read the article, create a new thread on this forum in which you state which of the arguments you believe is most convincing. Use specific examples from the article. Your post should be a minimum of 3-4 sentences. Greater detail will earn more ponts. Your original thread is worth 25 points .Next, post a reply to one of your classmates and comment about what they have written. Be sure to do more than simply agree with your classmate. Again, greater detail will earn more points. Your reply is worth 20 points. Your writing mechanics are worth 5 points. Be sure to use proper grammar, punctuation and capitalization.The Discussion post should be 150 wordsRead the article “Clinton Impeachment, High Crimes and Misdemeanors or Political Witch Hunt?” The article is available by clicking on “Discussion Articles” on the navigation tree on the left side of the screen. The article will present two sides of the argument.After you have read the article, create a new thread on this forum in which you state which of the arguments you believe is most convincing. Use specific examples from the article. Your post should be minimum of 3-4 sentences. Greater detail with earn more points. Your original thread is worth 25 points .Next, post a reply to one of your classmates and comment about what they have written. Be sure to do more than simply agree with your classmate. Again, greater detail with earn more points. Your reply is worth 20 points. Your writing mechanics are worth 5 points. Be sure to use proper grammar, punctuation and capitalization.
mccarthyism__response_to_communist_threat_or_political_witch_hunt__.docx
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McCarthyism
Response to Communist Threat or Political Witch
Hunt?
By Elbert Ventura
The Issue
Time-Life Pictures/Getty Images
The issue: Is Senator Joseph McCarthy’s effort to root out communists from government
and entertainment institutions a legitimate response to a communist threat? Or is his
campaign a baseless political witch hunt?
• Arguments against McCarthy’s anticommunist efforts: McCarthy is exaggerating the
communist threat to the U.S., and his accusations of communist ties are baseless.
Rather than protecting the U.S., he is merely ruining the lives of innocent people
in order to garner attention and political power for himself. Worse, McCarthy’s
accusations of communists in the State Department are ruining the image of the
U.S. worldwide and hurting its foreign policy efforts.
• Arguments in favor of McCarthy’s anticommunist efforts: Communism poses a very
real threat to the U.S.; it has spread throughout the world since the end of World
War II (1939-45) and the U.S. is at risk of being overtaken. Communist
subversives have infiltrated the State Department, Defense Department and
entertainment industry, and must be rooted out to protect the U.S. Some innocent
people might be accused of being communists but that should not deter such an
important task.
Background
The years after World War II (1939-45) were particularly anxious ones for the U.S.
Although the U.S. was on the winning side in that war and emerged as a superpower, the
end of the war ushered in a new “Cold War” that lasted much longer. The decades-long
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rivalry between the U.S. and the Soviet Union would define the American experience in
the second half of the 20th century.
In the late 1940s and throughout the 1950s, the U.S. was stunned by the rise of
communism in Eastern Europe and Asia. The U.S. and the Soviets had fought as allies in
World War II, but after the war their uneasy alliance fractured over the nations’
competing ideological systems. As the U.S. and the Soviet Union jockeyed for power, the
U.S. experienced a revival of an old phenomenon: anticommunism. Many Americans
worried that communism was infiltrating the country, with some arguing that communist
sympathizers in the U.S. posed a serious national security threat. In the years after World
War II, few issues topped communism on the public agenda.
The widespread fear of communism led to the rise of an obscure U.S. senator, Joseph
McCarthy (R, Wisconsin), who would lead the charge in the crusade to find and expose
American communists. His controversial campaign and tactics have since come to be
known as McCarthyism. The period during which he waged his campaign, from 1950 to
1954, has become one of the most hotly debated and controversial periods in U.S. history.
The rise of McCarthyism came at a unique point in American history. While communism
had always been viewed with suspicion by Americans—a suspicion that had given rise to
“Red scares” in previous decades—the antipathy toward communism had abated
somewhat in the 1930s and early 1940s. The Great Depression and the U.S. alliance with
the Soviet Union in World War II had taken much of the sting out of communist ideas for
many Americans.
But American tolerance of communist ideas withered after World War II as the struggle
with the Soviet Union gathered momentum. As the hostilities between the two countries
intensified, suspicion of people with links to communism increased.
By 1950, the groundwork had been set for the emergence of an anticommunist crusade.
McCarthy was then the junior senator from Wisconsin with no national reputation. But he
quickly seized on a cause that would catapult his name into the headlines. In February
1950, McCarthy made a speech in the Senate accusing 81 individuals in the State
Department of affiliating with communists. In June, he alleged that there were more than
150 individuals in Hollywood who were communists.
In the following years, McCarthy carried out a war against communism, portraying it as
“a final, all-out battle between communistic atheism and Christianity.” He would become
America’s leading anticommunist crusader. In speeches and hearings, he accused more
and more Americans of having communist ties. While many Americans hailed his efforts,
others deplored them, calling his campaign an irresponsible and dangerous crusade that
wrecked the careers and sullied the reputations of Americans who were, in fact, not a
threat to the country.
McCarthy rose to such great power during his crusade that just being accused by the
senator of having communist ties was enough to ruin a person’s career. Many
congressmen were reluctant to challenge him for fear that McCarthy would turn his
anticommunist efforts against them.
But 1954 would see the decline of the senator’s career. In April of that year, the so-called
Army-McCarthy hearings were convened by the Senate after the Army alleged that
McCarthy had threatened and pressured Army officials to give preferential treatment to
an associate of his. The Army had brought that claim against McCarthy after he turned
his sights on the service, claiming that there were people with communist affiliations in
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its ranks.
Broadcast to a national television audience, the hearings would prove McCarthy’s
downfall. During one fateful exchange, the senator was confronted by Army attorney
Joseph Welch, who famously asked the aggressive McCarthy, “Have you no sense of
decency, sir, at long last?”
From there, the fall was swift. Public opinion of McCarthy dropped precipitously. With
the decline in McCarthy’s reputation, it was no longer considered political suicide to
speak out against him. In December of that year, the Senate passed a resolution of
condemnation against him. McCarthy died in 1957, his reputation in tatters except for a
core of supporters who backed him and his crusade to the very end.
Critics of McCarthy’s anticommunist crusade painted it as a witch hunt that ruined lives.
They argued that McCarthy’s claims of a communist conspiracy, particularly within
government and in the entertainment industry, were exaggerated and largely false.
Opponents of McCarthyism portrayed the episode as nothing more than a baseless assault
by the right against liberals. While some detractors conceded that espionage was a real
danger, they argued that McCarthy’s tactics were excessive and cruel, and seriously
harmed many innocent people. Some skeptics contended that McCarthyism was nothing
more than a cynical political maneuver by a senator hungry for power and attention.
Supporters of the anticommunist crusade, on the other hand, asserted that communism—
and communist subversion in both government and culture—posed a very real threat to
the U.S. While some backers admitted that McCarthy might have gone too far at times,
they said that McCarthyism, on balance, was good for the nation because it helped beat
back the advance of communism in the U.S. Indeed, some defenders of McCarthyism
went so far as to suggest that McCarthy’s critics were communist sympathizers
themselves who feared being exposed as such if McCarthy was not brought down.
The Communist Threat
For much of the 20th century, the U.S. was preoccupied with the threat of communism.
The communist takeover of Russia in 1917, along with a wave of labor unrest and social
agitation, fed fears of communist infiltration into the U.S. and laid the foundation for the
“Red Scare” of 1919-20. During that time, Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer, who
believed that communism was “eating its way into the homes of the American workman,”
launched the so-called Palmer Raids. He rounded up thousands of members of the
Communist Party, which had established in the U.S. earlier in the year. Those who were
arrested—mainly foreigners, radicals and striking laborers—were often beaten, and
foreigners were sometimes deported.
Anticommunist fervor ebbed in succeeding years, and in the 1930s, during the Great
Depression, even gave way to toleration of leftist ideas. However, anticommunism gained
momentum again by the end of the decade. In 1938, Congress created the House UnAmerican Activities Committee (HUAC). Initially the HUAC focused on extremist
groups, both right-wing pro-Fascist groups and leftist communist groups. But after World
War II, attention turned mainly to the danger of communist infiltration of American
government and society
Although U.S. participation in World War II, and its alliance with the Soviet Union,
somewhat diminished anticommunist fervor, it returned with renewed intensity after the
war. Past and present members of the Communist Party in the U.S. were singled out as
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potentially dangerous and were accused of working to undermine the U.S. on behalf of
the communist cause.
In the late 1940s, several incidents focused attention on the problem of communist
infiltration of the U.S. In 1945, Elizabeth Bentley, a member of the Communist Party,
told the Federal Bureau of Investigation that she had been spying for the Soviets. She said
that her contacts included several officials in the federal government. Bentley in 1948
went public with her story, testifying in front of the Senate Investigating Committee and
the HUAC, sparking fears of a communist spy network in the government.
The HUAC at the time was also busy rooting out the communist threat in another realm
of American life. In 1947, the committee turned its attention to mass culture, charging
that communists had established a base for themselves in Hollywood and were spreading
propaganda through their films. While several film industry professionals called to testify
cooperated with the committee, 10 refused to answer questions, citing their Fifth
Amendment right not to incriminate themselves. Known as the Hollywood Ten, they
were all found guilty of contempt of Congress and sentenced to between six and 12
months in prison.
Following the citations for contempt, the Association of Motion Picture Producers issued
a statement declaring that it would not hire communists. That statement laid the
groundwork for the creation of a “blacklist” among Hollywood studios; those with
suspected of communist ties would not be allowed to work in the industry. The blacklist
ended up tarnishing many careers, most of them permanently. The list grew to include
more than 300 industry professionals.
Another significant case during the period was that of Alger Hiss. In 1948, Whittaker
Chambers, an editor at Time magazine and an ex-communist, accused Hiss, a highranking State Department official, of being a communist and, later, of conducting
espionage for the Soviet Union. Hiss denied the charges and sued Chambers for libel, but
evidence was eventually brought forward that seemed to prove Chambers’s charges.
Hiss was eventually imprisoned for perjury, but not espionage, and continued to maintain
his innocence for the rest of his life. In the 1990s, newly declassified documents were
released that seemed to prove his guilt. Nonetheless, there is still debate over whether he
was a spy for the Soviet Union.
Perhaps the most notorious anticommunist trial of the period was that of Julius and Ethel
Rosenberg. The Rosenbergs were American communists accused of passing atomic
secrets to the Soviets. As with the Hiss case, the Rosenberg trial was highly polarizing,
with some convinced of the couple’s guilt while others were equally assured of their
innocence. The Rosenbergs were convicted in March 1951, a verdict that helped fuel
McCarthy’s crusade, which by then was already under way. They were executed in June
1953.
McCarthy Emerges
McCarthy was elected to the Senate in 1946. The Republican junior senator from
Wisconsin spent his first three years in the Senate cloaked in obscurity. However, in
1950, McCarthy staked his name on an issue that would thrust him into the national
spotlight and lay the groundwork for his reelection run in 1952. That issue was
anticommunism.
Exploiting the communist hysteria sparked by the Hiss case, McCarthy embarked on his
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crusade with gusto. On February 9, 1950, McCarthy made a speech in Wheeling, West
Virginia, that contained the line that came to be associated with the dawn of
McCarthyism: “I have here in my hand a list of 205 [names] that were known to the
Secretary of State as being members of the Communist Party and who nevertheless are
still working and shaping policy in the State Department.”
Two days later, McCarthy sent a telegram to President Harry S. Truman (D, 1945-53),
repeating his allegations but lowering the number of alleged State Department
communists to 57. On February 20, he made a six-hour speech in Congress referring to
81 people who were allegedly members of the Communist Party or loyal to it. A month
after the Wheeling speech, the term “McCarthyism” was coined by the cartoonist Herbert
Block; it is defined by historian Richard Rovere as “a synonym for the hatefulness of
baseless defamation, or mudslinging.”
In the weeks following McCarthy’s Wheeling speech, a Senate committee was appointed
to look into his assertions, the first of five investigations to focus exclusively on
McCarthy’s accusations. While a committee later that year said it had found no grounds
for McCarthy’s allegations of communists in the State Department, McCarthy continued
his crusade.
Although the HUAC was the most prominent committee during that period, there were
dozens of similar bodies at every level of government that sought to address the issue of
communist infiltration. McCarthy’s own Government Operations permanent investigating
subcommittee was one of the most important, carrying out the same kinds of
investigations as the HUAC. Such panels publicized the alleged seriousness of the
communist danger, proving a useful vehicle for inflaming anticommunist hysteria.
Through their hearings, which were not bound by the requirements of a court of law, the
panels attacked and denounced witnesses and defendants. Witnesses who appeared before
the HUAC were not allowed to bring lawyers or cross-examine other witnesses.
Meanwhile, accusers were not required to present evidence for their accusations.
McCarthyism’s power was such that being subpoenaed to appear before the HUAC or one
of the other committees was often grounds for a person to lose his or her job. McCarthy
also exerted a profound influence on government policy. President Dwight Eisenhower
(R, 1953-61), in an effort to appear tough on communism, backed legislation that
broadened the reach of espionage and sabotage laws. He also refused to grant clemency
to the Rosenbergs, a decision that Time magazine depicted as “appeasement” of
McCarthy and his campaign. Despite reportedly privately despising McCarthy and his
bullying tactics, Eisenhower never publicly confronted him.
Then at the height of his influence in 1954, McCarthy was given a seat on the Senate
Rules and Administration Committee. The year, however, would also see the senator’s
precipitous fall. In March, revered television newsman Edward R. Murrow aired an
episode of his show, “See It Now,” that was critical of McCarthy and his tactics. “[T]he
line between investigation and persecuting is a very fine one, and the junior senator from
Wisconsin has stepped over it repeatedly,” Murrow declared.
In April, the Army-McCarthy hearings began. In 1953, McCarthy had trained his sights
on the Army, claiming that it had been infiltrated by communists. In March 1954, the
Army released a report revealing that McCarthy and his lawyer, Roy Cohn, had sought to
gain special privileges from the Army for David Schine, Cohn’s associate, who had been
drafted into the military. The report also accused McCarthy of threatening Army officials.
5
McCarthy fired back that the Army was using the Schine matter to deter his investigation.
The Senate Rules and Administration subcommittee on privileges and elections convened
the hearings to unravel the thicket of claims and counterclaims. (McCarthy temporarily
stepped down as chairman during the proceedings, and was replaced by Republican
Senator Karl Mundt.)
Broadcast live to a national television audience, the hearings would prove to be the
downfall of McCarthy. He was widely perceived as using bullying tactics on witnesses,
and his claims were perceived as being backed by hearsay and innuendo only. Under the
harsh glare of television lights, McCarthy’s authority quickly crumbled. As the American
public saw a daily dose of McCarthy and his boorish tactics, popular opinion began to
shift. In a June 17 opinion poll, just 25% of respondents expressed their support for
McCarthy, down from 50% just six months earlier.
The pivotal moment came on June 9, 1954, when McCarthy made accusations about Fred
Fisher, an associate of Welsh, the Army lawyer. Welch, responding to the senator’s
accusations, spoke up: “Until this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged your
cruelty or your recklessness. Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator. You have
done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you no sense of
decency?” Welch’s response was greeted by applause from the chamber. With those
words, McCarthy’s crusade finally ground to a halt.
McCarthy was cleared of the charges against him. However, on December 2, 1954, the
Senate voted, 67-22, to approve a resolution of condemnation for his abuse of the
subcommittee that had investigated him, and for attacks on the committee convened to
consider his censure. McCarthy was stripped of the chairmanship of his committee on
government, which effectively took away his power to continue investigating alleged
communists. A mere shadow of his former self, McCarthy began to drink heavily. He
died on May 2, 1957 of acute hepatitic failure (although it was widely believed that he
had actually died of alcohol-induced cirrhosis).
The Case for McCarthy’s Anticommunist Crusade
Supporters of the crusade against communism defended it as a vital bulwark against the
communist threat in the U.S. Contrary to critics’ claims, supporters said that the
communist danger was clear and present. “Unless we make sure that there is no
infiltration of our Government, then just as certain as you sit there, in the period of our
lives you will see a red world,” McCarthy warned in testimony during the ArmyMcCarthy hearings.
In a 1949 trial of 11 American Communist Party leaders charged with advocating the
overthrow of state or national governments, prosecutors had focused on the risk that
communism posed. John McGohey, in his opening statement on behalf of the
government, discussed the fundamental principles of Marxism-Leninism and the danger
they posed to the U.S. government. According to McGohey:
Marxism, they are taught, is not merely dogma, it is a guide to action…. At the proper
time, they are taught—the proper time being a time of national crisis, unrest, disorder
brought about by a severe depression or war—at such a time the Party members will be
in positions of influence in the key trades and in the basic industries, and when the
National Board decides that the revolutionary situation is at hand, the Party will lead the
proletariat in violent revolution. They teach that this revolution cannot be without
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violence, for to be successful the entire apparatus of the Government must be smashed.
McCarthy discussed the communist threat in his Wheeling speech. According to
McCarthy, communism was rapidly expanding worldwide, putting the U.S. at risk. He
stated:
Six years ago…there was within the Soviet orbit 180,000,000 people. Lined up on the
antitotalitarian side there were in the world at that time roughly 1,625,000,000 people.
Today…there are 800,000,000 people under the absolute domination of Soviet Russia—
an increase of over 400 percent. On our side, the figure has shrunk to around
500,000,000. In other words, in less than 6 years the odds have changed from 9 to 1 in
our favor to 8 to 5 against us. This indicates the swiftness of the tempo of Com …
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