The Fear Of Communism In The 1950s

Americans became very fearful of Communism and rightfully so. By 1950, fear of Communism was reaching a fever pitch as depicted in a staged communist takeover of a tiny Wisconsin town. American fears of Communism had dated back many years and by 1917 with the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia these fears were being realized. More recently however, by March 1945 U.S. government agents had secured classified documents belonging to Amerasia magazine, a pro-communist magazine. Generally, loss of the American dream was a driving force perpetuating fears of communist takeover. Specifically however each U.S. citizen had their own version of fears. For example a business person might fear wealth being distributed equally under a system of communism

McCarthyism- McCarthy was a senator famous for the communist hysteria in the 50’s. He blamed 205 State Department workers for having ties with communists. He gained support by playing into American’s fears of the spread of communism. Though some of these people accused of not being loyal were in fact not loyal, most weren’t. His accusations were mainly built on speculation. His smear tactics became known as McCarthyism. Once he questioned the army’s loyalty that was it and he was called out by Eisenhower.

Fears of communism was a huge issue dating back after the Second World War. Americans were afraid of every new person coming into the United States and they did not want anyone who they thought was a “communist” to stay in the United States. The United States government made many Americans inclined to fear. Eisenhower's administration did not influence communism but Eisenhower's “Domino Theory” helped decrease a little of the American fears of communism. Containment also helped lower the fears that almost every American was having after the Second World War. Every policy that Eisenhower had was driven from the fear of communism. Communism was absolutely the biggest fear that Americans had dating back after the Second World War, the Eisenhower

The Cold War (1941-91) was a time of political and military tension between Soviet Russia and the United States. During this time, there was a great deal of fear between the 2 international superpowers as they both possessed nuclear weapons capable of wiping each other out. The Americans were in constant fear of Communism and Soviet spies. The paranoia was exacerbated by some politicians who suggested that Soviet spies were everywhere. This fear made some Americans to accuse their own neighbors of being Communist sympathizers.

“The Red Scare of the 1950s, the years of Senator MCcarthy the city began condemning homes” (Normark 17.) When many social and interracial labor movements of the Left were dismantled. This was not an isolated case this was happening all over the country right before our own eyes. A 1950 far-sighted housing development of 3364 housing units proposed on a 278-acre site in the underprivileged downtown Chavez Ravine neighborhood. Elysian Park Heights, the project was intended to be the groundwork for citywide slum revitalization development. Regardless of how self-sufficient the residents of Chavez Ravine one of the more prominent Mexican American thriving communities served as a home to three Mexican Communities La Loma, Palo Verde and Bishop. Job and housing discrimination was one of the reasons the neighborhoods rallied around each other making them a thriving community. Despite of having no help from the city they had a school, church and vegetation. (Evanosky 80) Mexican families being discriminated everywhere else in the city they found refuge and decided to make Chavez Ravine their home. (Dennis Evanosky, Eric J. Kos, 80) Getting no response from the city, in spite of years asking for help to upgrade their community. The government condemn the habitat as a blighted area this changed their lives as they knew it. (80)

In the 1950s there was a red scare that threatened the United States with communism and Nuclear espionage. The scare was questioned if it was conspiracy or not, but it was justified because of the spies and Soviet Union threatening the United states security. Through decryptions, trials and investigations these threats were justified because of the Venona project, the project was a secret organization that gathered and decrypted messages from soviet military agency in 1940s, and the HUAC.

The pervasive Red Scare of the 1950s, which peaked just before mid- decade, legitimated the sanitizing of the nation's political culture, not only through prosecuting and persecuting anyone or anything smacking of communism, but also manipulating a whole range of suspect people, ideas, and artifacts. Purifying society of corrupting influences became a permissible activity, upheld by the religious, political, economic, legal, and cultural establishment. Everyone was vulnerable, but particularly the impressionable young, whose naiveté and search for excitement could easily lead to moral corruption or

After WWII the democratic U.S. and the soviets became engaged in a series of largely political and economic clashes we called the cold war. The rivalry between the two powers raised concerns in US that communist are inside the U.S. Which poses a U.S. Security threat and gets Americans scared. I believe that the red scare created McCarthyism and not the other way around because the red scare came right after wwII hysteria still left over from Hitler, the red scare is what led to actions that had an enduring effect on the us government and society, and because the us thinks soviet spies could be a threat to the US and cause Americans to start mistrusting and causing McCarthy to rise up with his accusations.

After all the devastation brought about by the Great Depression and World War II, Americans desired and sought for a return to normalcy during the 1950s. With men away at war and women pursuing jobs, the rate of divorce skyrocketed as families were being split apart. Juvenile delinquency rose in great numbers due to the lack of parental supervision during wartime. This evoked fear in the American people that the survival of the “traditional American family” was in jeopardy. Thousands of women were pushed out of the workforce and back into their homes as returning soldiers resumed their positions on the job. Suburban housing flourished as the notion to conform spread across the country. The 1950s was a period of conventionality, when both men and women practiced strict gender roles and complied with society’s expectations in attempts to recreate the “American Dream”. The concept of the “Ideal Woman” created a well-defined picture to women of what they were supposed to emulate as their proper gender role in society. A woman was told her primary interest was everything but herself. She was expected to cook, clean, take care of the kids, and be a loving wife who waits for her husband to come home in order to adhere to his needs. Taking time to care for herself was never in the picture. The idea of conformity trapped these women in suffocating boxes that allowed no room to breathe. The pressure put on women to be the core of the entire family while keeping her husband happy was

“Are you now, or have you ever been, a member of the Communist party (Barnes)?” This question was asked by Republican senator Joseph McCarthy to hundreds of people that he proclaimed were Communists during the late 1940s and early 1950s. McCarthy’s words were ones of fear that the American public gravitated toward to show their hatred for communism. Although this anti-communist effort was only most evident in the mid-20th century, the McCarthy strategy of creating baseless claims against people continues to happen in today's society. The media has covered and created false stories that the American public thrives on. Many people see these stories as factual instead of falsehoods. The American population has also become McCarthy-esque

The Red Scare was a huge issue that the US citizens faced after learning of Russia’s plans to try and overtake all countries and turn them into Communist powers. People would fear that the men and women currently residing in the US would turn to support Stalin and his ways. During this time, Communism was the most feared thing in the US. People who were sought to belive in Communism would be feared and not be treated as they once were. Politicians would use this strategy to help boost their votes during elections. Senator Joseph R. McCarthy started a mass “Witch Hunt” to search and find the hidden supporters of Communism. McCarthy would frame almost anyone stating that they believed in Communism, which would make people fear and basically

The Red Scare was a social and political shock to the common people of the United States of America. There were the first Red Scare and the second Red Scare and both of the Red Scares were based on communism, socialism and leftists. The first Scare was from 1917 through 1920 and what started it was the fear of the Bolshevism, and what caused this was the Russian revolution. The second Red Scare started because of the fear of communism as socialism. It's time period was from the 1940s to the 1950’s.

Throughout the 1800’s the prototype for women was housewife and caregiver. Women that lived in the 1800’s did not have careers and were merely counterparts of their husbands. This female stereotype has been demonstrated throughout the literature

The 1952 Schlitz advertisement that is shocking to most modern day feminists, was trying to normalize the “imperfect woman” by advertising beer. The printed ad states: “Don’t worry darling, you didn’t burn the beer!” After WWII, women were slowly gaining independence as most of the male population was away at war. The women had to fill in the spots of males in society, transcending from the private sphere, being confined to the home, to the public sphere, where they would work for wages. Once the men returned home from war, so did the women. The women became confined to their homes and became what we know as the stereotypical housewife: caretakers of their children, caterers to their husbands, and makers of the home. The media continued to build upon the ideas of the perfect housewife, and while perfect housewives were ubiquitously depicted in their ads, they strategically used women as bait to conform to the development of the dramatic consumerist ideologies.

The era of the housewife usually paints a rosy mental picture; a white picket fence, a large house with a big yard, a beautiful family, and homemade goods. However, as seen in Betty Friedan’s article “The Problem That Has No Name”, describes the turmoil experienced by housewives of the 1960s. The problem was described and become popularized in a variety of ways by media outlets, such as ungrateful housewives that had too much education to realize “how lucky she is” (52). The women who experienced the problem described the feelings of inadequacy and frustration such as “I feel empty some how” or “I feel as if I don’t exist” (50). Although Friedan does not clearly state what the exact problem is it is apperant that these women want more from