United States History of McCarthyism

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United States History – McCarthyism

According to Berkin, Miller & Cherry the end of the Second World War created a new world order (788). The Americans hoped that after emerging the superpowers in the war, they would now lead a more peaceful life, own homes and even expand their economy. However, their dreams and hopes were partially fulfilled because the United States entered into a cold war with the Soviet Union soon after the Second World War. While the other superpowers were devastated with the outcome of the war, the United States and the Soviet Union emerged winners and were therefore competing for economic, political and military dominance. The USSR invaded Yugoslavia and Poland attempting to accomplish what Hitler could not accomplish which was to conquer Europe. The USSR introduced communism in every country they conquered in Europe. However, the United States was against communism which forced it to declare war against communism. This resulted to the cold war that last nearly fifty years after the Second World War (Berkin et al 788). This war affected the whole world having some internal and external consequences.

In the late 1940s and also in the 1950s, Americans suffered a period of fear and hysteria because they thought the Soviet Union would attack them at any time. This fear made the Americans believe that there were communists working in America so as to undermine them. McCarthyism was the use of communism to disgrace political ideas, ruin cultural ethics and the reputation of individuals suspected to be communists. As a result, many Americans were constantly on the look out suspecting their neighbours and friends to be communists (Berkin et al 806).

McCarthyism threatened the basic rights of Americans. Many used this as a way to overpower their enemies. If one could prove that another was a communist, then their word was taken as true. This is a good example that shows how the democratic system in the US was weakened (Berkin et al 806). During this period, the Americans felt that they had to keep their opinions to themselves to prevent being accused that they were communists. As is evident in the 1950s and in the 1960s the McCarthyism made it right for the government to violate the political and civil rights of Americans by going to the extremes of opening their mails and following them around so as to weed out the communists among them.

Conclusively, McCarthyism is a bad thing that negatively affected the Lives of Americans. It instilled fear among Americans that they could be having communists living among them made making them to continuously look over their shoulders. Revelations of the violations of civil rights of political and civil rights of Americans by the government made the Americans questions the government’s dedication to democracy.

Work Cited

Berkin, Carol., Miller, Christopher., & Cherry, Robert. Making American: A History of the United States since 1865, Volume II. Florence: Cengage Learning, 2010. Print.