User talk:Pimpinhobo528

McCarthyism took place during a period of intense suspicion in the United States primarily from 1950 to 1954, when the U.S. government was actively countering

In May 1951, two members of the Cambridge Five — Donald MacLean, Second Secretary of the British Embassy in Washington, D.C., and Guy Burgess — defected to Moscow after it was discovered MacLean transmitted information on the atom bomb from the British Embassy to the Soviet Union during World War II. McCarthy was worried that communism would spread into America and internal treason would result.

In this atmosphere,McCarthyism flourished.

The term originates from

The press was by this time quite anti-McCarthy, and reports that McCarthyism was ruining the reputations and lives of many people without credible evidence were common. Even some Republicans denounced him, among them Henry Luce and Robert R. McCormick. By the time famed CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow's highly critical "Report on Joseph R. McCarthy" aired on March 9, 1954, McCarthy's public support had all but withered.

Persons who were alleged to have been victims of McCarthyism were either denied employment in the private sector or failed government security checks.

Some of those alleged to have been blacklisted were:

1. David Bohm, Physicist
2. Charlie Chaplin, Actor
3. Aaron Copland, Composer of modern tonal music
4. Dashiell Hammett, Author
5. Lillian Hellman, Playwright and left-wing activist
6. Arthur Miller, Playwright and essayist
7. Stalin Peace Prize
8. CPUSA
   member.
9. Paul Sweezy, economist and founder-editor of Monthly Review
10. John Garfield, Actor
11. Elia Kazan, film and theatre director and producer, Committee Witness

Though many of McCarthy's specific charges were unsubstantiated, material unearthed in Russian archives after the fall of the

From the viewpoint of some conservatives and McCarthy supporters at the time, the identification of foreign agents and the suppression of "radical organizations" was necessary. Senator McCarthy and his followers felt there was a dangerous subversive element that posed a danger to the security of the country, thereby justifying extreme measures—the embodiment of realpolitik.

The Arthur Miller play The Crucible, written during the McCarthy era, used the Salem witch trials as a metaphor for the McCarthyism of the 1950s, suggesting that the process of McCarthyism-style persecution can occur at any time or place when the hysteria of nuclear holocaust grips a nation whose own citizens betray secrets to an enemy the country is at war with. Although Miller denied these claims, it is clear that the McCarthy events conspiring around him influenced his writing. For instance, those accused during the McCarthy trials had nearly no chance of proving their innocence. Even the power of logic could not overcome the seemed questionable at times during the McCarthy period. Similarly, those accused in The Crucible could not try to rationalize their innocence; doing so would be undermining the court, direct heresy during those strict theocratic times. Miller also was mindful to include similar court techniques such as coercing witnesses and absolution through public repentance. Miller effectively mirrored the contemporary events through his play while using the events of the past to highlight current happenings.

Many people see the film Invasion of the Body Snatchers to be a critique of both McCarthyism and communism. Director Don Siegel has claimed that neither messsage was intended, though.

Since the time of the red scare led by Joe McCarthy, the term McCarthyism has entered American speech as a general term for the phenomenon of mass pressure, harassment, or blacklisting used to pressure people to follow popular political beliefs. The act of making insufficiently supported accusations or engaging in unfair investigations against a person as an attempt to unfairly silence or discredit them is often referred to as McCarthyism.

The term has since become synonymous with any government activity, which seeks to suppress unfavorable, political, or social views, often by limiting or suspending civil rights under the pretext of maintaining national security.

1. US court of appeals on August 8, 1958
   .