After WWII and during the 1940s-1950s, Joseph McCarthy took advantage of American fears about communism. He developed a list of around 200 government employees he claimed were communist infiltrators. Many people were accused of being communists, including government officials, writers, and entertainers. Their careers were often destroyed. McCarthyism led to paranoia and hysteria before beginning to decline in 1954 when McCarthy died in 1957. It showed how susceptible people can be to accusations and suspicion.

1. By: Melanie Hawes, Robert Cheetham,
Jake Fernandes, and Matt Begley

2.  AfterWWII
 During the 1940s and 1950s

3.  In June of 1940, Congress passed the Alien
Registration Act in an attempt to undermine
the power of the American Communist Party.
Congress decided to put the House of Un-
American Activities Committee (HUAC), in
charge of the investigation of people
suspected of unpatriotic behavior and
discover if people were trying to overthrow
the government. In 1949, leaders of the
party began to be arrested; they were
charged with advocating an attempt to
overthrow the government.

4. When Joseph McCarthy arrived
in Washington, he seemed like
a “fire-breathing anti-
Communist conservative
legislator” but some didn’t
know his true desires on being
in office “beyond the obvious
desire to be elected to office”

6. Everyone is suspecting their neighbors of being communists

7.  After WWII the Red Scare was still occurring
in the U.S. and caused many Americans to be
paranoid about the threat of Communism.
Joseph McCarthy took advantage of this
paranoia and developed a list of about 200
communist men who had “ supposedly”
infiltrated the government.

8. Palmer Raids

9.  Joseph
McCarthy, Vincent Harnett, Edward
Dmytryk,
 Victimswho were being accused of being
communists, accused other people in order
to help clear their own name.

11.  Joseph McCarthy, J. Edgar Hoover
 Roy Cohn- McCarthy’s wingman
 Main Target of McCarthy: Secretary of State
Dean Acheson
 David Schine- McCarthy’s main fear
 John Henry Faulk- Helped end the
blacklisting

12.  Government officials (mostly democrats and
a few republicans), business leaders, writers,
and entertainers.
 Their careers were ruined if their names
were mentioned on the list. Some had their
passports taken away, others were jailed.
They were labeled communist sympathizers
and could not return back to work.

13.  The press failed to stand up and speak out
for the innocent victims.
 Also some of the government officials that
weren’t persecuted stood by and watched

14.  Paranoia
 Hysteria
 Those who were accused lost their jobs
 Distrust in the government

16.  McCarthyism begins to die out by 1954.
 McCarthy died in 1957 from acute Hepatitis

17.  Learn from the past
 Shows how quickly people are willing to turn
on one another for the sake of clearing their
own name
 This experience shows how susceptible the
country is to suspicion and one
man’s/woman’s bold move to accuse certain
government officials

19.  Cohen, Daniel. Joseph McCarthy: the Misuse of Political Power. Brookfield
(Conn.): Millbrook, 1996. Print.
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2011. Web. 15 Dec. 2011.
 Sparknotes. "SparkNotes: The Cold War (1945–1963): Key People &
Terms." SparkNotes: Today's Most Popular Study Guides. Sparknotes. Web.
15 Dec. 2011.
<http://www.sparknotes.com/history/american/coldwar/terms.html>.
 Spartacus Education. "McCarthyism." Spartacus Educational. Spartacus
Education. Web. 15 Dec. 2011.
<http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAmccarthyism.htm>.
 PBS. "Arthur Miller - McCarthyism | American Masters | PBS." PBS: Public
Broadcasting Service. PBS. Web. 15 Dec. 2011.
<http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/arthur-
miller/mccarthyism/484/>.