Second Red Scare
November 26, 12
History
Second Red Scare and Its Roots
Nearly seventy years ago the most treacherous war ended. The world’s population saw and felt the power and technology of the newly reformed military forces of that time, it was something that had never been experienced before, thousands of lives could be lost in minutes, “Some 70,000–80,000 people, or some 30% of the population of Hiroshima were killed by the blast and resultant firestorm” thousands of acres could be turned into ashes, “The radius of total destruction was about one mile (1.6 km), with resulting fires across 4.4 square miles (11 km2). (Wikipedia). America had just shown its strength to the rest of the world and had established to be a super power with its military force and technology. America just like most other countries in the world was undergoing many different changes, economically, socially and politically. Even though WWII had ended most countries were still unrest and were scared from one another more than ever before, especially America and Russia. “During World War II, Stalin’s doubts about the sincerity of America” (Cold War), USSR as a communist regime had never trusted the western politics of United States of America and themselves had begun to reinforce their military, develop newer weapon technology including Atomic Bombs and increase the number of their military members. Both sides used espionage at its highest levels and were constantly trying to up one another in the development of weapons and military, thus both countries being scared of each other. These events continued for many years after WWII and at one point the fear from Russia’s communists spread all over America, but of course with the help of media and that of some politicians. Senator Joe McCarthy used this climate of fear to foster modern day witch trials, in which he persecuted hundreds of innocent people, at a time when WWII had left US very
History
Second Red Scare and Its Roots
Nearly seventy years ago the most treacherous war ended. The world’s population saw and felt the power and technology of the newly reformed military forces of that time, it was something that had never been experienced before, thousands of lives could be lost in minutes, “Some 70,000–80,000 people, or some 30% of the population of Hiroshima were killed by the blast and resultant firestorm” thousands of acres could be turned into ashes, “The radius of total destruction was about one mile (1.6 km), with resulting fires across 4.4 square miles (11 km2). (Wikipedia). America had just shown its strength to the rest of the world and had established to be a super power with its military force and technology. America just like most other countries in the world was undergoing many different changes, economically, socially and politically. Even though WWII had ended most countries were still unrest and were scared from one another more than ever before, especially America and Russia. “During World War II, Stalin’s doubts about the sincerity of America” (Cold War), USSR as a communist regime had never trusted the western politics of United States of America and themselves had begun to reinforce their military, develop newer weapon technology including Atomic Bombs and increase the number of their military members. Both sides used espionage at its highest levels and were constantly trying to up one another in the development of weapons and military, thus both countries being scared of each other. These events continued for many years after WWII and at one point the fear from Russia’s communists spread all over America, but of course with the help of media and that of some politicians. Senator Joe McCarthy used this climate of fear to foster modern day witch trials, in which he persecuted hundreds of innocent people, at a time when WWII had left US very
Cited: Bayley, Edwin R. Joe McCarthy and the Press. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin, 1981 Fried, Albert. McCarthyism: The Great American Red Scare : A Documentary History. New York: Oxford UP, 1997