Anticommunism and Mccarthyism for a Modern Audience, Essay

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Anticommunism and McCarthyism

For a modern audience, the ideas of anticommunism and McCarthyism may be difficult to distinguish because they are frequently discussed in the same context. However, it is inappropriate to view the two ideologies as synonymous because they actually reflect two related, but very distinct, political viewpoints. This distinction is critical because there are moral issues connected to McCarthyism that should not be connected to anticommunism. Anti-communism refers to a political and social belief system that opposes communism, particularly full governmental control of the economy. McCarthy built his platform on the political ideology of anticommunism, though it is important to note that many of McCarthy's most vocal critics were anticommunists as well. McCarthyism, however, expanded well beyond the idea of anti-communism and involved the unfair targeting of men and women who were suspected of being communist. Oftentimes this occurred without any reason to believe that these people were communists. This resulted in many people losing their jobs and their reputations, and was a particular problem in Hollywood, where people were blacklisted for suspected communist affiliations. It was described by many as a period of hysteria. Moreover, while it was identified strongly with Joe McCarthy, it is important to understand that people during that time period were aware that it was a phenomenon that went beyond the Senator's power, and that he was not solely responsible for the hysteria. On May 29, 1953, John Roy Carlson commented on McCarthy's retirement and said, "I am surprised to read those who believe that the retirement of Senator McCarthy will alter the political picture.

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His retirement will no more diminish the degree of national hysteria than the death of Stalin diminished the threat of Communist aggression" (Carlson, 1953).

The media covered anticommunism and McCarthyism with what seems like a high degree of honesty and open skepticism, which is actually surprising given that any person who openly spoke out against McCarthyism made themselves vulnerable to charges that they were communists or communist sympathizers. For example, in May 1950, Richard L. Strout mentioned one of the difficulties in investigating the charges of communism that McCarthy was leveling against the State Department. According to Strout, "Some of the difficulty of getting to the bottom of charges by Senator Joseph R. McCarthy (R) of Wisconsin that the State Department is infiltrated by Communists is illustrated in trying to pin down just what the charges are" (Strout, 1950). As one can see, journalists were openly critical of McCarthy. In this article, Strout was pointing out that McCarthy was making allegations of communism, but not giving any type of substantiation or proof to support those allegations, making it difficult for the Senate to even begin investigating those allegations. This was a charge that would be repeated by other critics of McCarthyism over the course of the years that McCarthy was levying unsubstantiated allegations against people. In addition, the press was willing to use terms like McCarthyism and differentiate between it and anticommunism, noting when the hysteria associated….....

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