Communism In 50s
Thesis: The "Red Scare" of the 1950's caused a massive movement
for
the people of that time period. I. Introduction II. The Basis of
Communisim A.
Communisim: Defined B. Political Aspects 1. Communist
associations 2.Communist
fears C. Physical Aspects 1. Incidents 2.
Blacklisting III. Propaganda A.
Recruitment B. The "Red Scare" 1.
Communist propaganda 2.
Anti-communist defenses IV. Leaders in the
movement-McCarthy A. Obsessions 1.
The conspiracy 2. Focus on his
campaign B. Accusations 1. Alger Hiss 2. Owen
Lattimore V. The Cold War
A. Conflict with Russia 1. Destruction of atomic
weapons 2. War in Greece 3.
Failure to adopt Marshall Plan B. European Recovery
1. European Recovery
Program 2. Increase in trade VI. Protection A. U.S.
Defenses 1. New
Weapons 2. New Technology B. Punishments VII. What was Learned
A. More
tolerance B. Less hate C. Comparisons between the Fifties and now
1.
Understanding 2. Lessons VIII. Conclusions America: Land of the free,
and the
home of the brave. This famous expression has been used numerous
times
throughout history, even scoring a line in our country's national
anthem. But in
our high-tech socety, many Americans can not even understand
what our
forefathers went through to achieve this American dream. People do
not even
grasp the concept of what it has taken to keep the freedom of this
country
ringing. Place youself in the footsteps of the average American of
the 1950's,
dealing with the Russian threat of communist rule and the fear of
being taken
over an opposite world power. Post World War II struggles make it
hard for
anyone to get by, and each coming day leads to another unpredictable
twist for
the country in which you reside. The powerful threat of communisim,
which came
to be known as the "Red Scare," is the basis of all of the
nation's
problems. This "Red Scare" of the 1950's was a powerful, radical,
and
controversial issue for nearly everyone in that time period, and what's
more is
the propaganda that was used to sell communist leadership to the
American
people, who were deathly afraid of what the future might hold. This
Red Scare
lasted throughout the Fifties and beyond. The Fabulous Fifties...
well, were
they really so fabulous, after all? First of all, for total
understanding of the
Red Scare of the fifties, one must become acquainted
with the term communisim.
Communisim can be defined as: a type of
government in which a small group of
leaders dictates a country or nation by
distributing goods and money equally
among the country's citizens (Webster's,
1994). As of today, nations such as
Russia and China are run by communist
authority. Although this system of
government works in theory, it requires
the sacrifice of freedom of the people
who are being ruled. Other aspects of
communist rule include communist
associations, which during the 1950's had
10,000 members across the United
States of America, dedicated to making
communist rule in the United States a
reality (Miller, 1954). Incidents in
which communisim was a serious matter in
the 1950's include the jailing of an
American couple for reportedly
"talking communisim." A later report indicated
that the couple was
merely discussing American relations with Japan, but it
was around the time that
this event occured that people began to really began
to fear communists and
their beliefs (Miller, 1954). Communists, or people
suspected of being
communists, were also blacklisted, making them unable to
get jobs, insurance,
and loans, among other things (Salem Press, 1992).
Recruitment for memebers of
the communist political party was, during the
1950's, based solely on
propaganda. This false advertising glorified the
things that communist rule was
supposed to offer, such as jobs, money, and
food for everyone. This especially
appealed to America's lower-class society,
with dreams of brighter futures and
lifestyles for themselves and generations
to come. Of course, communist
activists never mentioned anything about the
freedoms that our nation, under
communist rule, would stand to lose. On the
contrary, though, anti-communists
startled Americans by leveling their
defense by making it seem like all members
of communist parties were
murderers and terrorists, which is where the term
"Red Scare" was generated
from (Associated Press, 1995). These
defenses were used primarily to keep
communist beliefs away from our American
democracy, but frightened Americans
into believing that all communists and
people from countries such as Russia,
which had communist leadership, were evil.
On the other hand, Douglass
Miller notes in his book, The Fifties: The Way We
Really Were, that "Most
victims of anti-red mania were guilty of little
more than holding unpopular
opinions (Miller, 1954)." One man, Joe
McCarthy, was an especially strong
activist in this anti-communist movement.
McCarthy apparently needed a
focus in his campaign for Senator, so he chose a
topic that would appeal to
all people, communisim in the United States. This was
a very good idea, as
most people were not quite grasping the idea of communisim
and what would
happen if the United States was to fall under communist rule. He
disagreed
strongly with communist ideas, which was ironic because he was at one
point a
communist activist. McCarthy dedicated his life to this
anti-communist
campaign. He made a number of accusations and accused
opponents of his of being
communists and Soviet spies. Among others, there
was the imfamous Alger Hiss.
McCarthy accused Hiss of being a communist
spy, and these accusations were
recepted by the American people (Miller,
1954). Owen Lattimore was also a
familiar name; he was also accused of being
a communist spy after McCarthy found
out the Lattimore was an expert on Far
Eastern affairs (Miller, 1954). McCarthy
died while still speaking against
communisim and keeping American people from
tolerating any form of communist
government. The Cold War also had a lot to do
with this threat of communisim
in the U.S. (Borstien, 1992).Different aspects of
the Cold War included
Russia's attempt to control the atomic bomb. Russian
communists demanded that
the United States destroy our atomic weapons. This,
added with other Russian
conflicts, did not make the spread of communisim a
worthy cause for Americans
at all. Russia continued to spread its communist
tyranny all over the world,
causing a civil war in Greece, in which the British
became involved
(Borstien, 1992). The British provided funds and defenses for
the people of
Greece, but soon, the British could no longer continue fighting
for the Greek
people. Congess then came up with a plan, named the Marshall Plan,
which
would provide funds for the Greek people against the spread of
communisim.
The Marshall Plan was put into effect and caused a riot from
Soviets, who would
have nothing to do with this plan (Borstien, 1992).
Finally, the Soviets began
to settle back once another plan, called the
European Recovery Program, was put
into effect. This plan worked out very
well, because instead of fighting a war
against communisim, it went to the
root of the problem and helped to rebuild
parts of Europe that were in
desperate need of help. This worked out very well
in the end, because the
plan increased trade with European countries, causing a
booming economy for
both the U.S. and Europe. The plan was intent on
"containing" communisim, and
that's what it did (Borstien, 1992). New
technology also kept Americans from
communisim. United States defenses made a
threat to the Soviet government,
claiming that they would do anything and
everything to prevent Russia from
spreading communisim to America. With new
weapons, such as the atomic bomb,
these threats were not hard at all for the
United States to back up. By
then, communisim had already spread to eastern
Europe, an Americans were
more than determined to not let this horrific form of
government spread into
the United States. Other precautionary measures included
the jailing of
citizens of the United States that were found guilty of being
Communists.
The idea of this was to cut off communists from any Soviet links
that they
might have, so that they could not send or recieve any documents that
had to
do with communisim (Associated Press, 1995). So how was the American fear
of
communisim finally resolved? Well, in actuallity, it never really was.
People
in the United States today still fear a communist government, only not
as
publicly because the United States as a country no longer feels threatened
by
the Soviet Union. But the fear is still there. Often, Americans must be
reminded
that America really is the land of the free and the home of the
brave, and that
democracy really works. In conclusion, the Red Scare of the
1950's really was a
radical and controversial issue for all types of reople
who lived through that
time period. It affected most everyone, and many of
these people were confused
and bewildered by the entire basis of communisim.
But now, in the United States,
people are able to experience the joys and
pleasures of freedom because of this
massive movement that took place during
the 1950's. It shall never be forgotten
what Americans have had to go through
for future generations to conserve peace
and freedom. People have worked hard
to be sure that an unfair kind of
government will never take over the United
States. America: Land of the free,
home of the
brave.
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