How Did Joseph Mccarthy Witch Hunt
The topic I chose to write about is the McCarthy witch hunts. The McCarthy witch hunt trials all started because of the fear of Communism in America which was known as the Red Scare. In the late 1940s a U.S senator in Congress, named Joseph McCarthy started to carry out witch-hunts in search of Communist supporters. Joseph McCarthy was a paranoid man, he questioned and accused many people of being communist or spies for the Soviet Union with having little or no evidence, This is known as McCarthyism. When on trial the accused had two options, they could refuse to answer the questions and have the possibility of losing their occupation and friends, or they could follow their demands and rat out friends and even family of being Communists. The
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reason why the hearings were called “witch hunts” is because it was very like the Salem witch trials of 1692. McCarthy mainly revolved his questioning around members of the U.S army and those in the entertainment industry such famous actors, screenwriters, directors, and musicians.
When members of the entertainment business were suspected of supporting communism or had any connections with communism they were blacklisted.
This meant that those who were listed were refused employment which caused a major decrease in film production, many also were fired from their job. When the first 10 people of the Hollywood motion picture industry were interrogated by McCarthy, they all agreed to stick together not to comply with answering any questions they were asked, they were then known by people as The Hollywood Ten. “The names of the infamous Hollywood 10 are Dalton Trumbo, Herbert Biberman, Alvah Bessie, Edward Dmytryk, Ring Lardner Jr., John Howard Lawson, Albert Maltz, Lester Cole, Adrian Scott, and Samuel Ornitz” (United States History. (n.d.). Retrieved December 9, 2017, from http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1850.html). In the interrogating the men denounced the questions as violations of their First Amendment rights, which is the right to free speech. Things, unfortunately, didn't go well for them and were unsuccessful. 8 of the 10 were given a prison term of one year for “contempt of Congress”. The other two luckily received a six-month sentence. A week after the hearing, a 2 paged press release known as “The Waldorf Statement” was issued, by a man named Eric Johnston, who at the time was the head of the Motion Picture Association in America, he called for a meeting along with with 48 motion picture executives . The Statement was a response to the
contempt of Congress charges against the "Hollywood Ten".The majority of the men were never allowed to work in Hollywood again, but a few did continue to write under a fake name.
reason why the hearings were called “witch hunts” is because it was very like the Salem witch trials of 1692. McCarthy mainly revolved his questioning around members of the U.S army and those in the entertainment industry such famous actors, screenwriters, directors, and musicians.
When members of the entertainment business were suspected of supporting communism or had any connections with communism they were blacklisted.
This meant that those who were listed were refused employment which caused a major decrease in film production, many also were fired from their job. When the first 10 people of the Hollywood motion picture industry were interrogated by McCarthy, they all agreed to stick together not to comply with answering any questions they were asked, they were then known by people as The Hollywood Ten. “The names of the infamous Hollywood 10 are Dalton Trumbo, Herbert Biberman, Alvah Bessie, Edward Dmytryk, Ring Lardner Jr., John Howard Lawson, Albert Maltz, Lester Cole, Adrian Scott, and Samuel Ornitz” (United States History. (n.d.). Retrieved December 9, 2017, from http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1850.html). In the interrogating the men denounced the questions as violations of their First Amendment rights, which is the right to free speech. Things, unfortunately, didn't go well for them and were unsuccessful. 8 of the 10 were given a prison term of one year for “contempt of Congress”. The other two luckily received a six-month sentence. A week after the hearing, a 2 paged press release known as “The Waldorf Statement” was issued, by a man named Eric Johnston, who at the time was the head of the Motion Picture Association in America, he called for a meeting along with with 48 motion picture executives . The Statement was a response to the
contempt of Congress charges against the "Hollywood Ten".The majority of the men were never allowed to work in Hollywood again, but a few did continue to write under a fake name.