Life During the McCarthy Era

   Life During the McCarthy Era  

        

Following the end of World War II, the flimsy alliance between the allies and the USSR quickly collapsed. Both the USA and the USSR had come out of the war stronger than before, and there were two major effects of the war: the development of nuclear weapons by the Americans, and the spread of Communism by the USSR's newly expanded territory in Eastern Europe. There was a large amount of fear on both sides, which quickly resulted in the start of the Cold War. Communism began to spread quickly, and in 1949, under Mao Zedong's regime, the People's Republic of China was formed. This resulted in two massive red countries on the map, which kick-started the fear of Communism spreading.

All over America, there were "witch hunts", which were investigations carried ostensibly to uncover submersive activities, but were based on flimsy evidence, and resulted in many innocent people being jailed. Between 1949 and 1954, there was a total of 109 investigations, which supposedly unearthed communist threats. The era lasted only five years from 1949-1954, but contributed greatly to the fear of Communists during the Cold War. The most commonly prosecuted group was the small, but dedicated CPUSA, or the Communist Party USA. After the Communist Control Act was passed in 1954, more and more suspected communists were being arrested. In the CPUSA alone, there were 140 accusations, and 93 convictions. Anyone during the McCarthy Era had to be careful not to look suspicious, and there was a great deal of fear and anti-communist propaganda circulating, which just shows how scared people can be of something they don't understand.

Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCarthyism
              http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/viewSubCategory.asp?id=1216written by:
 Sam Melvin, English CP III