Summary Of A Decade Of Fear

Sam Robert in the article a decade of fear argues that MCcarthyism turned americans against each other. Robert supports his claim by illustrating fear, described betrayal and compared it to other united states internal conflict. The author's purpose is to point out a vulnerable period in american history in order to demonstrate that americans fell prey to mccarthys negative propaganda. The author writes in a informative persuasive tone for his educated audience. I strongly agree with Roberts claim. mccarthyism prompted americans to betray each other due to fear, self preservation and mass hysteria. Clearly, Mccarthyism appointed fear deep into the hearts of americans by twisting and turning every arm and forcing unreasonable confessions. For
A person no matter the circumstance will always choose their life over a strangers. Because of this the idea of self preservation led to a sort of blame game in order to preserve identities and fortunes. This can be seen in the play The Crucible when Abigail accuses John Proctor's wife of witchcraft with the soul purpose of resurrecting a previous spark between herself and Mr. Proctor. Another profound example of self preservation in times of crises can be found in the article A Decade of Fear published by the New York Times “ Critics said mccarthy was stoking fear and smearing anyone in his path -Democrats or fellow Republicans- purley to grab at power.”. Although it may not seem like it the idea of self preservation was one of the main fuels to the fire that was
For example in the article A decade of fear it is noted that “at the height of his power in 1953, McCarthy became chairman of the Senate permanent subcommittee on investigations and used the platform to make further charges of Communist spying.”. The only reason that McCarthy ever made it to Senate is due to how out of proportionate his recognition blew. Just like in Salem hysteria led to neighbor turning against neighbor and brother turning against brother. In the Crucible written by Arthur Miller the idea of hysteria leading to mass gain and growth is evident when Abigail starts to accuse others of witchcraft in order to secure a position with her fantasised lover. If not for the hysteria of the time the Mccarthyism trials would have died out just as fast as they started but like most problems it grew to an incredible size sweeping through the entire US