cold war

1. McCarthyism
Throughout1952 and 1953 McCarthy extendedhisowninvestigationsandturnedhiscommittee
intoa weaponto increase hisownpersonal powerandterrifyothers/Hismethodsmainlyinvolved
false accusationsandbullying.He targeted high-profilefiguresandaccusedanyone whocriticised
himof beingaCommunist.
The ‘witch hunts’
McCarthy claimedthatGeneral George Marshall 9the Americangeneral mostadmiredbyWinston
Churchill andthe authorof the Marshall Planwhichgave US economicaidtoEurope after the
SecondWorldWar) was at the centre of a giganticconspiracy againstthe USA.PresidentEisenhower
didvirtuallynothingtoprotecthisgreatfriendMarshall fromthese accusationsbecause he didn’t
wantto clash withMcCarthy.
Thousandsof othersfoundtheirlivesandcareersruinedbythe witchhunt.False accusationsledto
theirbeing‘blacklisted’whichmeantthattheycouldnotwork.Over100 universitylecturerswere
firedastheiruniversitiescame underpressure fromMcCarthy.The HUAC ‘blacklisted’324
Hollywoodpersonalities.StudiobossessuchasWalt Disney,JackWarnerand LouisMayer supported
the HUAC and refusedtoemployanyone whowassuspectedof havingCommunistsympathies.They
alsodidtheirbitto raise the temperature furtherbyproducingscience-fictionfilmssuchasInvasion
of the BodySnatchers,whichfedthe hysteriabyintroducingthe threatof alieninvaders- whichwas
clearlysupposedtorepresentthe Communistthreattothe USA.
The return of Captain America
CaptainAmericawasa comic booksuperhero.He wascreatedin1941 to fightthe Nazis.Atthe end
of the war,Marvel comics‘killedhimoff’.He crashedwhile flyinganexperimental plane.However,
inthe eraof the RedScare, Marvel comicssensedthe publicmoodandtheyboughtback Captain
Americain1953- as ‘CaptainAmerica,CommieSmasher’.The storynow ran that he didnot actually
die buthad beenfrozeninice.Thismayseemsillybutcomicsandcartoons are a goodsource of
evidence aboutthe publicmoodata particulartime because lotsof people boughtthese comics,
theywere aspopularin thisperiodascomputergamesare today.
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