McCarthyism is the practice of publicly accusing government employees of political disloyalty or destructive activities. Unsavory investigative methods were used to prosecute them. Senator McCarthy has ruined the reputations and lives of many people by accusing them without any credible evidence. He accused those who criticized his style of being communist sympathizers. He also opposed free speech because his art of persuasion believed that any discussion of communism was dangerous and un-American (Pufong, n.d.). Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Senator Joseph McCarthy called communist nations like Russia atheists. He said the main difference between the Western Christian world and the atheist communist world is not political but moral. Karl Marx dismissed God as a joke, and Lenin and Stalin believed that no people who believed in God could exist side by side with their communist states. Karl Marx expelled people from his communist party for mentioning “love, justice, humanity or morality.” Joseph Stalin had stated two years after the end of the last war that a communist revolution could not be carried out peacefully within the structure of Christian democracy. If this happened, then the parties would either not understand or would have abandoned the communist revolution. Senator McCarthy warned Americans that their Christian values of "love, justice and morality" will be lost if they allow communism to rule America. The religion of the immoralist would influence humanity more than any political or economic system. Communist supporters were men who enjoyed all the benefits that the richest nation on earth had to offer. They had the nicest homes, college educations, and the finest government jobs (“Enemies from Within,” n.d.). He went on to mention that there were communist supporters in the US State Department. He also had a list of communist spies. In McCarthy's speech on February 9, 1950, at the McClure Hotel, McCarthy displayed a piece of paper listing 205 communists working for the U.S. State Department. The speech was part of the Wheeling Republican's annual Lincoln Day celebration. In reality, McCarthy had no list. McCarthy's accusations were not accurate. He never shared his list of communists publicly. Second, in his subsequent speeches, he significantly lowered his total of 205 and often mentioned different numbers. In his statement two days later, he said he had a list of 57 communists in the State Department. The speech in Wheeling made McCarthy the face of the anti-communist movement. In 1954 McCarthy initiated a hearing against the US Army. The televised McCarthy hearings described McCarthy's erratic behavior and his reliance on guilt by association rather than evidence (Anticommunism in the 1950s, n.d.). In 1954 the US Senate vetoed McCarthy. However, McCarthy's popularity eventually waned after he claimed that communism had infiltrated the U.S. military. The term McCarthyism became synonymous with witch hunts and false accusations. After the end of World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union emerged as the two superpowers. Both were competing for military, economic, social, technological, and ideological supremacy (OpenStax, 2019). The second Red Scare began after the end of World War II and during the beginning of the Cold War with the Soviet Union. The word "Red" comes from the color of the flag of the Soviet Union, while“Scare” comes from the fact that people were afraid of communism coming to the United States. Communism was advancing rapidly. As communism spread through Eastern Europe and China, people were afraid that it might spread to the United States. The Soviet Union exploded the first atomic bomb. People were afraid of those who would side with the communists and help the Soviets obtain secret information about the U.S. The Chinese Communist Party won against the Nationalist Party. The Korean War pitted American troops in combat against communist forces supported by North Korea. There were suspicions that spies in the United States had passed bomb-making secrets to the Soviets. Communist supporters in the U.S. State Department had information that could have enabled the Communist victory in China. Klaus Fuchs, a German physicist, was convicted of passing nuclear secrets to the Soviets and imprisoned. The trial and execution of alleged American spies Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, despite the lack of evidence against them, heightened American fears. However, evidence was found several decades later that Julius had provided information to the Soviet Union. Truman's Order 9835 gave the Federal Bureau of Investigation the power to investigate federal employees and identify security risks. State and municipal governments established their own loyalty boards to fire disloyal workers. The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) also worked to remove suspected communists in business, academia, and the media. They also investigated Hollywood and accused some executives of being pro-Communist. Witnesses had to testify in court. They imprisoned those who refused. People suspected of communist sympathies lost their jobs; they were blacklisted, which prevented them from finding work. Artists were also blacklisted. The trials and accusations were not all bad; they included spies in the federal government. The September 11, 2001 attack is an example of a Red Scare-like event that has occurred throughout history and in the present day. Muslims posed a terrorist threat to the country and instilled fear in Americans. Bush declared war on terrorism. The war on terrorism is an ideology based on fear and repression (Global Forum Policy, n.d.). It creates enemies and promotes violence. Politicians today use the tactics of McCarthyism. Americans are told to fear acts of terrorism and Muslim immigrants. Just like in McCarthy's time, people take it as truth, and there is constant fear in our country. Today, Americans are witnessing President Donald Trump exploit fears of terrorism using McCarthy's tactics. The development of the Lavender Scare is due to McCarthy. McCarthy's list of 205 federal employees who were communists included two gay individuals. At the time, gays were sinners, perverts, and their public perception of homosexuality shared many similarities with the public view of communists. Gays were similarly seen as communists with no moral values. For the federal government, LGBT employees have begun to pose a security threat. If they lived a double life, they wouldn't be able to keep government secrets. Ultimately, they dismissed the two LGBT people from the service. In March 1952, the federal government dismissed 162 civil servants suspected of homosexuality. The following year, President Eisenhower signed Executive Order 10450, which barred federal employees for sexual perversion. At least 10,000 public employees have lost their jobs. The Lavender Scare has disbanded
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