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Reds By Joseph Mccarthyism

Decent Essays

Thousands of people were arrested and taken away from families in the 1960s. This was all because of something most of them did not do. Joseph McCarthy accused people of being communists without using solid evidence to prove it. In result of this, many people lost jobs, friends, some even had their whole life ruined because of it. If a parent got accused, their child lost friends, parents telling their children to stay away from them. This was the norm in the 1950s-everyone was afraid of the “reds”, or communists. The cold war had a large affect on this, because it is when America became afraid of communists or Russians. McCarthyism affected everyone in America Most citizens were afraid of the reds, some were former or current reds, some …show more content…

Bentley defected from the communist party in the U.S. in 1945. In 1948, she accused over 80 citizens of being communists. Although there was no evidence behind it, most of the accusations were correct. This accusation caught the media’s attention and ended up having a large effect on the realisticness McCarthyism. The more people accused, the scarier it was for America. Americans feared Soviets-so much it took over lives. Some has lost their careers because they were accused. For example, in 1950, 151 actors, writers, directors, producers, musicians, journalists, and other people involved with entertainment were accused of being reds with no evidence. The list was called the Hollywood blacklist. This list ended careers and took them off television or radio possibly forever. Some of the most famous entertainers in America could not get jobs because of this. "The Cold War Home Front: McCarthyism." states “When the TV series Danger tried to use one of these actors [on the list], Johnson [an official in the National Association of Supermarkets] told the show’s sponsor, the makers of Amni-dent toothpaste, that all grocery stores would put up a sign next to Amni-dent suggesting their programs employed communists. Meanwhile, they would put a sign next to a competitor’s toothpaste, Chlorodent, saying, ‘Its programs use only pro-American artists and shun Stalin's little creatures.’ The actor in question was quickly

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