Background
Anti-communist campaigns gained much prominence during the post-war years. The campaigns emerged as a response to the growing influence of the Soviet Union, especially because of its expansionist agenda. The United States and the Soviet Union had fought as allies against the Nazi regime in Germany during the Second World War, but the cooperation stopped when the war in Europe ended in 1945 (JFK Library, 2019). The United States had risen to become a force to reckon with while the Soviet Union was determined to challenge this force in terms of the arms race, acquisition of more land size, as well as the formation of a different political ideology; while the United States embraced democracy and liberalism, the Soviet Union embraced communism.
The Soviet Union had the zeal to develop a buffer zone between Western Europe and its borders. Consequently, it established pro-communist administrations in Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Albania, Romania, as well as East Germany. While the Soviet Union was determined to hold onto Eastern Europe, the United States began working on a policy to curb the spread of the communist influence in Western European countries such as Italy, Greece and France (Open Syntax, 2019). The Soviet Union posed a threat to colonial governments of countries such as Britain and France because of the technical and equipment support it provided to opposing groups. The communists triumphed in the Chinese Civil War in 1949, and China had joined them (Open Syntax, 2019). Countries such as North Korea, Cuba and North Vietnam subscribed to the communist ideals, and the United States perceived the growing influence as a threat to its national security. McCarthyism developed in the United States, especially from one of the most outspoken anti-communist Senator, Joseph McCarthy. McCarthy was senator for Wisconsin and was arguably the most vocal individual against communism during the Cold War period.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Mccarthy’s Definition of Communism
“Enemies from Within” speech delivered by McCarthy, in Wheeling, West Virginia on 9 th of February, 1950 provides clear insights about how McCarthy viewed communism. In the second paragraph of the speech, McCarthy noted, “This is a time when the entire world is split into two vast, increasingly hostile armed camps—a time of a great armament race” (History Matters, 2019). McCarthy implied that these great powers were not divided so that they could promote peace, but were in a race to arm themselves in anticipation of any eventuality. The Second World War had just ended and it is likely McCarthy was convinced that another war could break out in the near future. If the Soviet Union became too powerful, then the United States would be threatened.
McCarthy believed that the Soviet Union’s communism ideology was founded on immoralism as opposed to the United States Christian democratic values. He mentioned in the address that Karl Marx dismissed God as a hoax and expelled people from the Communist Party for mentioning things such as justice, love, morality and humanity. McCarthy appealed to the emotions of his audience by stating “Today we are engaged in a final, all-out battle between communistic atheism and Christianity. The modern champions of communism have selected this as the time, and ladies and gentlemen, the chips are down-they are truly down” (History Matters, 2019). This statement was meant to call the audience to action. McCarthy deliberately painted the communist ideology as being too evil and even a threat to the sanctity of life, bearing in the mind that he mentioned the Soviets did not believe in justice, humanity and morality. Definitely, the audience would be very afraid that if communism was allowed to spread, then human rights would be minimal if not non-existent.
Another definition of communism by McCarthy was that it was an ideology that would make the state to police the citizens. The citizens would not be entitled to any property rights as the communist regime would control everything. The United States, as it is widely known, is a nation that permits and encourages individual freedom. Democratic values embraced and propagated by the government insist that the state should not interfere with citizens’ endeavors. Under the communist regime, at least according to the perception of McCarthy, people would lose this independence. Consequently, people envisioned losing their property or businesses if communism prevailed. Additionally, they would not be allowed to participate in making any decisions that affect the running of their country and daily lives. These aspects are best captured in this statement from McCarthy’s speech “For instance, the Marxian idea of confiscating the land and factories and running the entire economy as a single enterprise is momentous” (History Matters, 2019).
Accuracy of Mccarthy’s Charges
According to the Miller Center (2019), McCarthy’s fear-mongering mainly created a climate of suspicion and fear across the country and many people were reluctant to counter him because of the fear of being labeled disloyal. However, indeed there had been spies who penetrated the State Department, as well as Communist agents who stole confidential information from the Manhattan Project, which built the atomic bomb (History Matters, 2019). Alger Hiss was a prominent figure who was suspected of leaking crucial information from the State Department to the Soviet Union. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were sentenced to death for the theft of the atomic secrets. However, the two incidents did not arise from the efforts of McCarthy or his investigation team. It was President Eisenhower who had commissioned investigations to establish any traitors or disloyal individuals within the system.
McCarthy used the Communism narrative mainly to create fear, become popular, and eventually gain political mileage. From 1954, for instance, McCarthy changed the narrative and turned his investigations to the United States Army and some members of Eisenhower’s administration (History Matters, 2019). The most likely agenda was to cause expulsion of some key military personnel and taint the image of the Democrats, considering that McCarthy was a Republican. However, this move did not end well for McCarthy because the military and Eisenhower countered McCarthy’s propaganda and pushed him to the periphery. Therefore, most of McCarthy’s claims were intended to cause fear and make him a force to reckon with in the political scene.
Validity of Anti-Communist Sentiments
Communism would inevitably pose a threat to the United States’ democratic values. While democracy and liberalism, which are mainly held by the United States, promote independence of citizens from the state, communism limits the rights and freedoms of citizens (Open Syntax, 2019). Countries, which embrace communist values such as China and North Korea, are prominent examples where the state interferes with certain rights and privileges of citizens. If the same ideals were embraced by the United States, then certain rights and freedom enjoyed by United States citizens would be minimal or non-existent. The influence of the Soviet Union in Europe would also have threatened the United States’ interests abroad. The Soviet Union had established a buffer zone between East and Western Europe, and consequently, allies of the United States such as Britain and France would be sabotaged. The Soviet Union would have cut important transport, supply and communication links, until these countries agreed to embrace communism. Automatically, the United States would have directly been affected by being cut off from the allies. Since the Soviet Union was in a power battle, albeit covertly with the United States, if its influence had spread throughout the world, then it is likely the union would have frustrated the United States.
Examples of Events Similar To Red Scare
In the recent times, there have been tensions between the United States and countries such as Russia, China and North Korea. For Russia and North Korea, the fear among many people from the United States concerns the nuclear warfare capability from these countries. North Korea has severally been accused of manufacturing of missile weapons which are said to have the capability to reach the United States mainland. Arguably, the most prominent scare has been about China taking over as a formidable Superpower, therefore, threatening the power of the United States. China currently is involved in many infrastructural projects in developing countries, and is competing aggressively within the technology sector. The thought that Communist China may in the near future become the most powerful country in the world has sent shivers among several groups and parties in the United States mainly because of uncertainty of the United States influence (Congressional Research Service, 2019). Sometimes China is exposed to trade restrictions and sanctions in an attempt to curtail its influence.
Consequences of Invoking the Fifth Amendment
The Fifth Amendment protects individuals against self-incrimination, and guarantees individuals to a grand jury. However, members of the committee investigating individuals of disloyalty or their links to the communists expected the individuals presented before them to be ‘friendly’. This means the accused needed to cooperate, incriminate themselves, denounce their activities and even name other individuals who had links with the communists. However, if they invoked the Fifth Amendment, the committee members would subject them to various penalties starting with being ridiculed, losing of work and being blacklisted from future employment (Open Syntax, 2019). These actions implied that the accused did not have any right to defend themselves; the committee had already found them guilty and the ‘best’ step the accused needed to ponder about was to plead guilty to the charges, ask for forgiveness and name others.
References
Congressional Research Service. (2019). “U.S.-China Relations” https://fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R45898.pdf
History Matters. (2019). “ Enemies from Within”: Senator Joseph R. McCarthy’s Accusations of Disloyalty” http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6456
JFK Library. (2019). “The Cold War” https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfk-in-history/the-cold-war
Miller Center. (2019). McCarthyism and the Red Scare” https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/educational-resources/age-of-eisenhower/mcarthyism-red-scare
OpenStax. (2019). U.S. history. OpenStax CNX. Retrieved from https://cnx.org/contents/p7ovuIkl@6.18:gMXC1GEM@7/Introduction
