Haley Salisbury
Apush 5th hr.
Free Response Question As the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union intensified, so did the red scare. The Red Scare led to many actions that largely effected the U.S. government and society. The Cold War created paranoia in the United States that Communists and leftist sympathizers in the U.S. might work as Soviet spies and threaten the U.S. security system. Joseph R. McCarthy became closely associated with the anticommunists crusade. Throughout his career he fueled the fire of the red scare. McCarthy used intimidation and hearsay as tools to make himself feared in U.S. politics. For those who he accused of disloyalty to the U.S., some of them lost their jobs and gained a bad reputation. He first entered the scene in February of 1950, when he had accused over two hundred men in the state department of being part of the communist party. Two days after the outburst he wrote to president to Truman that he was capable of compiling a list of fifty seven communists with in the state department. In the end his claims were not sustained, but many of the state department member’s reputations were ruined. McCarthy’s act of accusing Americans with no evidence became known as McCarthyism. In 1954 the Army-McCarthy hearings took place, with this he lost much of his popularity. This event was publicized throughout the media, and American citizens were able to see his lack of evidence. Following this his popularity fell from fifty