McCarthyism was a movement led by US Senator Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s, investigating people for possible communist ties. Many innocent people were targeted, violating their rights and ruining their reputations. McCarthy was eventually censured for abusing his powers. The fear of communism was widespread, and McCarthy used it to publicly investigate people, including high-profile figures. Those targeted had a hard time finding a job afterwards. McCarthy targeted certain people to exert influence, leading to his downfall. “McCarthyism” now refers to any movement attacking individuals for their beliefs or political leanings.
McCarthyism was a movement started and perpetuated by US Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin in the 1950s. The Senator was strongly against the spread of communism around the world, and as a result, began investigating people in the United States for possible communist ties. In the eyes of many people, these investigations have gone too far, violating people’s rights to free speech and often ruining their lives by publicly tarnishing their reputations. Senator McCarthy was eventually censured by the Senate body for abusing his powers. Over time, it has been proven that some of the people McCarthy investigated were actually foreign spies, but there were also many totally innocent people subjected to his interrogations.
The fear of communism became widespread during the 1950s, due in part to several instances where communist groups came to power in different countries. Many people feared this might happen in the United States, and some worried that high-ranking government officials might already be covert communists waiting for an opportunity to use their power to aid a foreign enemy.
McCarthy used his power to stoke the fire of these fears and eventually began publicly investigating people. Some were just ordinary middle-class citizens, but he also investigated many high-profile people, including many in Hollywood. There were many reasons McCarthy chose who he did: sometimes he had hard evidence against them, but in many cases the people were simply involved in organizations he considered subversive, or they were acquaintances of someone else he was investigating. .
Those targeted during the era often had a hard time finding a job afterwards. This was often the case, although they were eventually absolved of any blame. In part, this was due to fears that any association with someone who was being investigated might make an individual or company suspicious.
Eventually, evidence emerged that McCarthy had targeted certain people as a way to exert influence. For example, he allegedly targeted some US Army officers as a way to threaten them into favoring conscripts who knew some Senators closely. This is the kind of evidence that was in many ways responsible for McCarthy’s downfall. Over time, the term “McCarthyism” has been used to describe any type of movement in which people use rumors and innuendos to publicly attack individuals for a belief or political leaning.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
