Essay, Research Paper: Was Communism Feared

Why Was Communism Feared?
After WWII, Americans knew they lived in the strongest
and "greatest" country on earth. They were however afraid
of communism at home and abroad. Through the reading and
discussions in this class I have found the primary reasoning
for this fear was because they did not want to think our
country could be like the rest.
After the war businesses were trying to get back to
normal and trying to convert form planes to cars so to
speak. The entire economy was working to make life better
for the country. Communism was going on all over the world
in country's like china and Russia. The U.S. must always be
the superpower so they put their two cents in when speaking
about foreign affairs. The government did not want to deal
with other country's because they did not want the communist
influence to take effect in the U.S. So the Americans were
making their own things in factory's and such. People were
unable to buy goods they wanted or needed.
During the cold war Joe McCarthy began t put out list
of people whom he thought were communist in the U.S. The
McCarthyism era began a widespread fear of communism.
People in the U.S. were taught that communism was bad and
anyone affiliated wit it were bad too. People were called
"red or "pink" for showing suspicious signs of communism.
Communist country's were not people whom you wanted to be
affiliated with. McCarthy went crazy in accusing many
people of being red or pink. McCarthy blamed many innocent
people and few like the Rosenburg's were killed and later
found out to be innocent.
The McCarthy era can be compared to the book The
Crucible. The children in the book had done something bad
and got caught, but to take the attention off them they
began to accuse people of being witches. People that had
crossed them in some way became the ones who were accused
and later innocently convicted and killed. I feel that
possibly many of the people on McCarthy's list could have
been accused in the same way as the witches. I think that
McCarthy wanted power just as the U.S. wants to be the power
of the nation. He began accusing people and the country
believed his accusations because they did not want to
believe our country could be corrupted by communism. Our
country wanted to be in control but did not want to fall to
the communist power. The U.S. does not like what it cannot
control and it is unable to control a communist country.
Our country wanted to outdo everyone else. They feared
that if communist were in our country then they were working
for other country's and leaking out our information. We
wanted to have the best bombs and the best equipment, and if
other country's were keeping up with us then someone must be
telling them our secrets. The government did not want to
think that maybe the other country's are as smart as us I
mean come on we are the U.S. no one can out do us. The
fear always leads back to the fact that we do not want to be
second best at anything we are the number one country in the
nation. Other country's look to us for support and what
would they think if we had communist in our office. The
government began to become more "secret" with its dealings.
Eventually people got tired of McCarthy and his
accusations and they began to question what he was trying to
get the public to believe. The government began to limit
the trials and tried to get McCarthy out of the office.
Eisenhower did not like McCarthy or his tactics. People
began to believe less and less that communism was wide
spread in the country. It was in congress hopes to bring
the "red scare" to an end, along with McCarthy.
Eisenhower along with the government wanted to make the
U.S. the number one country intake nation. It was building
bombs, trying to execute all of the communists that tried to
stop their making, and build up national security. The
country did not want to risk a downfall of power by allowing
communism to take effect in the country. With all that
McCarthy had started not much was accomplished, just a bunch
of people being innocently accused of a crime known a
communism. Eisenhower wanted to end McCarthy’s reign so he
put him on trial and found that his actions had no general
purpose. McCarthy’s days were over and it seemed like one
day the terror of communist fear would be over in the he
U.s.
With all that had happened in the U.S. in this era, the
only conclusion that I could draw about why Americans feared
communism in our country, the “greatest” country of all, was
the fear of not being the best. The country feared what it
did not have control of and communism is just that. The
U.S. could no longer jump in and try to rule in best
interest of another country if they were communist.
Communism in the U.S. was a moral issue. This problem could
not be solved by the president or anyone on his cabinet.
Eisenhower was a manager, not a moral leader(Bragg 74).


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