How Successfully From 1945 To

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reputation and the Republican party used McCarthy to play on the fears that already existed in society about a communist threat to the United States to damage Truman's administration.
It is not enough to simply blame the Republicans for the "Red scares". There was nothing new about a fear of communism. There had been "Red scares" in the 1920's, and the House of un-American Activities Committee was set up in 1938, which contained files of premature anti-fascists. This fear of communism is almost inevitable as communism poses a threat to the American ethos of free market capitalism. There was a communist threat to the United States in the 1950's, all though it was not as great as was suggested at the time. This was shown by the defection of Igor Gouzenko, cipher clerk at the Soviet embassy in Ottawa and the execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg for passing secrets to the Soviets.
Truman created the environment from which McCarthy could arise by being intolerant to communists ...

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the American public with him, if he was to be re-elected, so he played on their fears of communism by stating that communism doesn't just threaten Greeks, but Greeks and Americans.
All though Truman may have created the environment for McCarthy to arise, he didn't approve of McCarthy and opposed him bitterly. But he was limited in his resistance by a Republican Congress and the fears of the American public. Truman vetoed the McCarren Internal Security plan, a Republican plan that set up detainment camps in case a state of emergency was declared. But Congress passed the plan over his veto. He tried to prevent anti-communism from going too far, but he was unable to resist effectively.

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