Impact of McCarthyism: A Dark Era in American History

1. By W. A. Boyce

2. World War Two came to an end when Atom-Bombs were dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima [6 August] and Nagasaki [9 August] by American Superfortress bombers. One week later, on 15 August 1945, Japan surrendered. This brought an end to World War 2.

3. IMPACT UPON AMERICAN SOCIETY REASONS FOR AMERICAN FEAR OF COMMUNISM – THE COLD WAR CONTEXT WHY DID ‘McCARTHYISM’ FAIL? KEY THEMES LINKED TO QUESTIONS ON THE McCARTHY WITCH-HUNTS VICTIMS OF McCARTHY McCARTHY’s BACKGROUND AND AMBITIONS. S.I.S.S. + METHODS USED BY McCARTHY H.U.A.C. + THE HOLLYWOOD TEN’ ALGER HISS + THE ROSENBERGS

4. Joseph Stalin of the USSR (Russia) President Franklin Roosevelt of the USA Winston Churchill, Great Britain

5. The world eventually came to divide into ‘East’ and ‘West’, that is, between a Russian led pro-communist ‘sphere’ against a U.S. led pro-capitalist, pro-democratic camp

6. Harry S. Truman was the man who had ordered A-bombs to be dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. As Vice-President, he had automatically become President on Roosevelt’s death in April 1945. In 1948 he won the Presidency in his own right, through election victory. Truman’s presidency witnessed communist expansion during the early years of the Cold War. It also saw the rise of McCarthyism

7. Eastern Europe 1944-1945 N. Korea 1945 China 1949 North Vietnam 1954

8. America’s development of the A-Bomb had given the U.S. a massive advantage internationally in the years following 1945. This came to an end in 1949, when the Russians exploded their own A-Bomb. How had the Russians been able to develop their own A-Bomb just four years after the USA?

10. In a 1950 speech, McCarthy entered the public spotlight by claiming that communists had "infested" the State Department, dramatically waving a sheet of paper which purportedly contained the traitors' names. -A special Senate committee investigated the charges and found them groundless - Unfazed, McCarthy used his position to wage a relentless anti-communist crusade, denouncing numerous public figures and holding a series of highly confrontational hearings. - With little or no proof of his charges McCarthy relied on accusation, slander and innuendo to tarnish his opponents’ reputations [a practice now known as “McCarthyism’].

11. Elected as Senator to Wisconsin State in 1946 McCarthy fought for a smaller federal government and for controls on labour unions. But he had higher ambitions and wanted to become known nationally. He needed an issue.

12. On February 9, 1950, McCarthy told a ladies' Republican club in Wheeling, West Virginia, that Communists working for the State Department had fooled the Truman administration into supporting a foreign policy which helped to spread Communism. The growing influence of the Soviet Union worldwide seemed to prove McCarthy'sclaim.

13. ‘The communists within our borders have been more responsible for the success of communism abroad than Soviet Russia.’ The reason why we find ourselves in a position of impotency [weakness] is not because the enemy has sent men to invade our shores, but rather because of the traitorous actions of those who have had all the benefits that the wealthiest nation on earth has had to offer - the finest homes, the finest college educations, and the finest jobs in government we can give.

14. “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.”

15. McCarthy brought his Communists-in-government charges to the Senate in late February 1950. But a special Senate committee dismissed McCarthy's accusations for lack of evidence in July.

17. Both were executed in 1951.

18. Alger Hiss [centre] was accused of passing secrets to the USSR when he worked as a State Department official during the 1930s. His accuser was Whittaker Chambers [left], an editor at ‘Time Magazine’ and a former Soviet agent . When Chambers uttered these accusations publicly Hiss launched a libel trial. This lasted from 1948 to 1950 and Hiss was eventually was found guilty of betraying the USA. He was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. The trial set the scene for the McCarthy witch hunts

19. McCARTHY AND THE SENATE INTERNAL SECURITY SUBCOMMITTEE [S.I.S.S.] These events seemed to support McCarthy’s claim that there were traitors at the heart of American government. In 1950 McCarthy became a member of S.I.S.S. [the Senate Internal Security Sub-committee], leading it in 1953 and 1954. This was the Senate’s main committee for investigating Communists. McCarthy used it to make his attacks on alleged Communists.

20. THE GENERAL PUBLIC BEGAN TO BELIEVE HIM An American cartoon showing what Senator McCarthy believed, that American Communists were falsely swearing to be loyal to their country while at the same time they were working for the Soviet Union.

21. “Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?” Hollywood was one of the earliest victims of U.S. fears about the spread of communism in the post-war period. In 1947 H.U.A.C. [The House of Un-American Activities Committee, first established in 1937] investigated the loyalty of Hollywood screenwriters, actors and directors. Ten cited the ‘First Amendment’ and refused to testify. Hollywood chiefs had them ‘blacklisted’ and they were forced out of the film industry. This raised the issue of freedom of conscience in the USA.

23. McCarthy constantly played upon American people's fears of the threat posed by communism Here he points to a map showing the threat posed to Asia by communist China.

24. Soon hysteria began to sweep through America. Not only State Department officials became victims but any ordinary members of the public who displayed Leftist sympathies. This included not only socialists but trade unionists, teachers and other groups. A Los Angeles car-worker suspected of Communist sympathies is beaten up by workmates.

25. 600 teachers were dismissed 9,500 federal civil servants were dismissed Hundreds of scientists and university teachers lost their jobs 15,000 federal civil servants resigned while under investigation 300 were blacklisted in films, television and radio. 2000 industrial workers were fired 500 were arrested for deportation because of their political beliefs 3,800 seamen were fired 500 state and city employees were sacked

27. YES YES QUALIFIED NO UNDECIDED 48% 39% 13% 48% November 1945 March 1946 April 1948 November 1953 January 1954 January 1956 December 1956 April 1957 November 1963 45 44 11 36 57 7 19 9 68 4 14 8 73 5 16 6 76 3 20 4 72 4 17 5 75 3 67% 18 10 67 5 ‘In peacetime, do you think members of the communist party in this country should be allowed to speak on the radio?’

28. Later hearings were televised live. The general public saw for themselves . . . . . . for the first time McCarthy’s bullying methods – and did not like what they saw.

29. What political problems is Senator Joseph McCarthy causing President Dwight D. Eisenhower (who won the 1952 Presidential election), according to this cartoon? 3rd December 1953 – “An Uncomfortable Situation”.

30. Army Chief Counsel Joseph Welch, at right, listens to Senator McCarthy questioning the loyalty of Fred Fisher, one of Welch's legal aides, June 8, 1954.

31. McCarthy produces a map to show the (supposed) spread of communists throughout the US Army during televised hearings in 1954 to investigate his claim that the military was riddled with communists. Joseph Welch [left, the chief counsel for the army) remains unimpressed.

32. Here, McCarthy shows a photo of an American general, apparently, meeting foreign officials independently but the picture had been ‘cropped’ and the general was actually part of an official U.S. delegation to a Communist state.

33. An American newspaper cartoon commenting on Senator McCarthy, May 1954.

34. Even the original list of 205 suspect names produced by McCarthy, was proven to be in fact just a random sheet of paper picked from his briefcase on the spur of the moment.

35. McCarthy's crude tactics and reckless accusations caused other Senators to question his methods. In 1954, his colleagues censured him for disregarding Senate customs. Three years later, while still in office, McCarthy died of acute hepatitis brought on by heavy drinking at the age of 48.

36. SOME REFLECTIONS ON JOSEPH McCARTHY: (1) Edward Hart was a lawyer who worked with Joseph McCarthy on the Edgar Werner case. Interviewed by David Oshinsky in 1983. I always felt that Joe lived in a different moral universe. He asked himself only two questions. What do I want and how do I get it. Once he got rolling, you had to step aside. It was every man for himself, sort of what anarchy must be like. Edgar Werner was an honest man. Joe went after him in a way that was unconscionable. Maybe that's what he had to do to win. I don't know. But it's a hell of a price to pay. You've got to live with yourself. 2) Dr. A. J. Werner, letter to Robert Fleming about the defeat and death of his father, Edgar Werner (4th October, 1951) McCarthy not only drove my father to his grave but turned long-standing friends against our whole family. It was amazing how one man could wreck the reputation of another man so loved and honoured in his community.

37. (3) General Dwight D. Eisenhower, diary entry (1st April, 1953)Senator McCarthy is, of course, so anxious for the headlines that he is prepared to go to any extremes in order to secure some mention of his name in the public press. His actions create trouble on the Hill with members of the party; they irritate, frustrate, and infuriate members of the Executive Department. I really believe that nothing will be so effective in combating his particular kind of troublemaking as to ignore him. This he cannot stand. (4) After a tour of Europe in the summer of 1953, Philip Reed, head of General Electric, wrote to President Dwight Eisenhower (8th June, 1953) I urge you to take issue with McCarthy and make it stick. People in high and low places see in him a potential Hitler, seeking the presidency of the United States. That he could get away with what he already has in America has made some of them wonder whether our concept of democratic government and the rights of individuals is really different from those of the Communists and Fascists.

38. (5) Lyndon B. Johnson, on the death of Joe McCarthy (3rd May, 1957)Joe McCarthy had strength, he had great courage, he had daring. There was a quality about the man which compelled respect and even liking from his strongest adversaries. (6) Edward Murrow, See It Now (9th March, 1954)The line between investigating and persecuting is a very fine one and the junior Senator from Wisconsin has stepped over it repeatedly.

39. Why did so many people believe McCarthy? McCarthy came across as a patriotic politician fighting dangerous traitors. A defender of American values. Many Americans felt communism would replace democracy in America. Cold War fears – the growing influence of Communism seemed to support his accusations McCarthy’s explanations seemed to be backed up by evidence eg. the atomic spies the Rosenburgs McCarthy’s accusations seemed to explain the many set backs experienced by the USA in the immediate post-war period. Examples?

40. What were the effects of McCarthyism on U.S. society? Created political divisions between L. and R. Created a climate of fear Victims lost their jobs, isolated by their neighbours, family splits. Threatened American values of free expression and democracy Weakened government by victimising officials Weakened labour unions in U.S.A. Impact of television: TV was now seen as an influential news medium. The U.S. unity of World War 2 now became fractured on political lines.