The Decade of Fear
The Decade of Fear was essentially caused by one man – Joseph McCarthy. When he served on the Senate from 1947-1957, he seemed to make it his personal mission to eradicate all traces of communism from the earth (or at least America). Right away, he went after Hollywood, black-listing anyone involved in the entertainment industry whom he thought might be linked with communists. The following year, he released a list to the public with the names of 154 organizations he believed to have communist affiliations. This initially gained him support from the citizens, as 110 of those organizations did have some form of link to communism.
McCarthy managed to drum up so much fear that many people began to avoid anything having to do with the color red (the accepted color of communism). There were several organizations that were forced to either take the word “red” out of their name or go out of business. From that point forward, McCarthy became more and more neurotic about tracking down and punishing alleged communists. He put serious effort into surveillance and monitoring of people of all backgrounds and social levels, and set up a review board to determine whether or not a person was a communist. Support for McCarthy began slowly declining.
Towards the end of his career, McCarthy took things too far when he investigated the United States army at Fort Monmouth and verbally attacked the president. Even those who had stood staunchly by him, believing that he was a savior to the country, began to question his logic and methods. McCarthy and his Decade of Fear did a marvelous job of turning citizens against each other. Some people believed he was doing the right thing, while others thought he was taking things to a far-too unreasonable extent. Most modern-day people seem to side with the latter opinion. To this day, McCarthyism remains a word that describes the act of “accusing a person of a crime (particularly an act of treason) without providing proper
McCarthy managed to drum up so much fear that many people began to avoid anything having to do with the color red (the accepted color of communism). There were several organizations that were forced to either take the word “red” out of their name or go out of business. From that point forward, McCarthy became more and more neurotic about tracking down and punishing alleged communists. He put serious effort into surveillance and monitoring of people of all backgrounds and social levels, and set up a review board to determine whether or not a person was a communist. Support for McCarthy began slowly declining.
Towards the end of his career, McCarthy took things too far when he investigated the United States army at Fort Monmouth and verbally attacked the president. Even those who had stood staunchly by him, believing that he was a savior to the country, began to question his logic and methods. McCarthy and his Decade of Fear did a marvelous job of turning citizens against each other. Some people believed he was doing the right thing, while others thought he was taking things to a far-too unreasonable extent. Most modern-day people seem to side with the latter opinion. To this day, McCarthyism remains a word that describes the act of “accusing a person of a crime (particularly an act of treason) without providing proper