McCarthyism

Named for the US Senator Joseph McCarthy, a Republican of Wisconsin, McCarthyism was a period of intense anti-communism in the United States primarily from 1950 to 1954, when the U.S. government was actively engaged in countering American Communist Party subversion, its leadership, and others suspected of being Communists or Communist sympathizers. During this period people from all walks of life became the subject of aggressive "witch-hunts," often based on inconclusive or questionable evidence. It grew out of the Second Red Scare that began in the late 1940s.

Critique

From the viewpoint of some conservatives and McCarthy supporters at the time, the identification of foreign agents and the suppression of "radical organizations" was necessary. Senator McCarthy and his followers felt there was a dangerous subversive element that posed a danger to the security of the country, thereby justifying extreme measures—the embodiment of realpolitik.

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The Arthur Miller play The Crucible, written during the McCarthy era, used the Salem witch trials as a metaphor for the McCarthyism of the 1950s, suggesting that the process of McCarthyism-style persecution can occur at any time and place.

Related Topics:
Arthur Miller - The Crucible - Salem witch trials - 1950s

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Though McCarthy's specific charges were unsubstantiated, material unearthed in Russian archives after the fall of the Soviet Union has proven that his general charge (that Communist spies had infiltrated the federal government) was true. The American Communist Party (CPUSA) was in the pay of the Soviet Union. Communist spies included Julius Rosenberg and Theodore Hall, who gave nuclear secrets to the Soviets, Alger Hiss, who became Secretary General to the founding charter conference of the United Nations, and Harry Dexter White, who was the founding head of the International Monetary Fund.

Related Topics:
Soviet Union - CPUSA - Julius Rosenberg - Theodore Hall - Alger Hiss - Secretary General - United Nations - Harry Dexter White - International Monetary Fund

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