McCarthy and the Cold War

Paper Summary:

This paper looks at how the Cold War with the Soviet Union fed fears of Communism and feelings of paranoia and, ultimately, allowed Joseph McCarthy to wield tremendous political and social power in the United States. The paper describes the history of McCarthy's anti-communist campaign, his obsession with the communists-in-government issue, the conditions at the time that allowed him to feed on the American fear of Communism, why he was so popular, and how he was finally defeated.

From the Paper:

"One aspect of history is that a country's so-called "friend" one day, can be an enemy the next and visa versa. The United States and Soviet Union during World War II joined ranks against the real threat of Nazi Germany. However, it did not take long after the end of the war for Russia and the United States to once again bully each other. Even before the final surrender of Germany in 1945, the two super powers rapidly found themselves in a new military and diplomatic rivalry. Meanwhile, in the United States, the economy was taking time to build and unemployment was growing. Thoughts of the Depression loomed in people's minds. The friction with the Russians, which would receive the name of Cold War, did not help. Yet it did create a scapegoat for fears and feelings of paranoia. As the tensions between the U.S. and U.S.S.R. mounted, the Communist threat reached American shores. Surely, Russia was infiltrating the government. The Rosenberg's trial in 1951 put all the props on the stage for the director Joseph McCarthy."

More papers on McCarthy and the Cold War:

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