'The Age of McCarthyism'

Paper Summary:

This paper reviews, discusses and analyzes Ellen Schrecker's book, 'The Age of McCarthyism'. According to the paper, the book discusses how anticommunism moved "to the ideological center of American politics" and how America lost its own central convictions of the importance of freedom, democracy, and civil liberties.

From the Paper:

"Anti-communism was not simply a product of mass, cultural hysteria. It also provided a practical foundation for many politicians' emerging careers. For example, as early as the smaller 'Red Scare' of 1919-20, J. Edgar Hoover made his name and solidified his institutional base within the Department of Justice by rounding up suspected foreign communists. Later, these ideologues and Hoover loyalists within the F.B.I would allow Hoover to conduct illegal wiretaps, and commit other civil liberties violations, with the power of the F.B.I. Richard Nixon first came to national prominence during the Alger Hiss trials. And McCarthy himself was a relatively obscure senator, until he began to wave his famous lists in the air. President Truman, despite the fact he held the highest office in the land, may have oversold the communist threat, to gain the necessary funds from the Republican-dominated congress for his postwar agenda and to prove himself worthy of the legacy of F.D.R."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Schrecker, Ellen. The Age of McCarthyism. Boston: St. Martin's Press, 1994.

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• Persuasive Essay # 102961 : "The Age of McCarthyism"
• Descriptive Essay # 132852 : "Age of McCarthyism"

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