The Red Scare
One evening in 1950 a Houston couple entered a Chinese restaurant.
The woman, a radio writer, wanted the proprietor's help in producing a
program on recent Chinese history. Overhearing their conversation, a
nearby man rushed out, phoned the police, and informed them that people
were "talking Communism." The couple was immediately arrested and jailed
for 14 hours before the police concluded they had no case. At about the
same time a policeman in Wheeling, West Virginia, discovered some penny-
candy machines dispensing goodies with tiny geography lessons. One lesson,
under the hammer-and-sickle Soviet flag, read: "USSR Population 211,000,000.
Capitol Moscow. Largest country in the ...
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was a time of emotional stress for much of the
United States. With the USSR and the USA emerging from the second World War
as major world powers, neither wished to give up their newly acquired land.
Both countries following imperialist ideas attempted to spread their
government across the world. America, insecure about its power to uphold a
democratic government in foreign nations feared a communist invasion from
their Cold War foe, Russia. A hysteria swept across the United States as
American paranoia of a loss of personal rights increased. President Harry
Truman's thoughts summed up the nation's feelings toward communists with,
"The Reds, phonies and parlor pinks seem to be banded together and are
becoming a national danger." Truman's declaration that the United States
must protect the "freedom of worship, freedom of speech, freedom of
enterprise," was an attempt to win over the public's support for anti-
communism. Propaganda sprouted across the country, declaring that ...
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invaded and their
personal rights stripped from them.
Truman's personal attack against the communists was his radical
movement of executing Executive Order 9835. This "…authorized
investigations into the beliefs and associations of all federal employees."
Between the launching of his security program in March 1947 and December
1952, some 6.6 million persons were investigated. Not a single case of
espionage was uncovered, though about 500 persons were dismissed in dubious
cases of "questionable loyalty." All of this was conducted with secret
evidence, secret and often paid informers, and neither judge nor jury. In
the process of ratting out communists in order to preserve ...
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"The Red Scare." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 26 Aug. 2004. Web. 26 Apr. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Red-Scare/13347>
"The Red Scare." Essayworld.com. August 26, 2004. Accessed April 26, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Red-Scare/13347.
"The Red Scare." Essayworld.com. August 26, 2004. Accessed April 26, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Red-Scare/13347.
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