“McCarthyism is Americanism with its sleeves rolled”
-Joseph R. McCarthy

“An era of chemical McCarthyism is at hand, and ‘Guilty until proven innocent’ is the new slogan”
-Dr. George Lundberg


McCarthyism involved in Hollywood
Cold War Essay
Laura Hewson
Per. 0



How would you feel if you were falsely accused of a crime just because the way you look or the people you hang around with? This is something happens today, though most people don’t realize it because people hold it within themselves or only speak of it in whispers. A time in history where this kind of criticism that could be observed openly, was when congress passed the Alien Registration Act on June 29th 1940 to the 2nd of December, 1954, when Joseph McCarthy was taken from his position, or rather lost his power as, chairman of the Government Committee on Operations of the Senate.
The Alien Registration Act, when it was passed, made it illegal for anyone to want, teach or even wish to overthrow the government. The new law also made aliens over fourteen years old file a statement of their occupational, and personal, status and a record of their political beliefs. Within four months, 4,741,971 aliens were registered. This act was made after the Second World War in attempt to capture people in the American Communist Party. During the Cold War, some people began to worry about who were communists, while other saw the ‘way’ of communism and came to the decision of joining the communist party. Concern started to grow of spies being among Americans when celebrity figures were being thought of as part of the party. After the Alien Registration Act was passed, it was decided that the best way to discover if people were trying to overthrow the government was through the House of Un-American Committee (HUAC), set up by Martin Dies in 1938. Originally, the HUAC investigated both the left-wing and right wing political groups. The HUAC was a minor committee. Eventually though, Joseph Edgar Hoover convinced the HUAC to start investigating the entertainment industry, and to hold public hearings of the communist corruption, which increased the HUAC‘s popularity.
Interviews and hearings usually began “Are you now, or have you ever been, a member of the Communist Party?” As the fear of communism in Hollywood rose, producers began to start a blacklist, which held the names of people who were thought to be a communist or who refused to talk when brought up to the HUAC. You could be put on the blacklist for criticizing the HUAC, knowing a suspected communist or even making a remark that could be taken as a communist remark. If one were put on this infamous list they could be refused a job, or they could be taken from the job in which they already had. In June of 1950, atomic spies Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were arrested. The same month, the editors of Counterattack, a news report on facts of communism, published a special report called Red Channels, The Report of Communist Influence in Radio and Television. This report contained 151 names of performers who thought to be part of the communist party, or who made comments that were thought to be like a communist kind of comment. This report formalized an informal practice when representatives from major Hollywood studios pledges that the would “not knowingly employ a communist”, and they would “take positive action” on “disloyal elements.” The people who were on the list had not only been communists, but also fascists, alcoholics and sexual deviants. If Joseph R. McCarthy had been screened he himself would have been put on the list because of his drinking problems and his sexual preferences.
The 1946 political campaign was played a major part in McCarthy’s career. It was his first run for the senate. McCarthy accused his opponent, Robert M. La Folette, Jr., of being “communistically inclined”, though he had no proof of it. The rising fear of communism, and of course McCarthy’s intense speeches won him the election. After he became a senator he continued to spread the fear of communism. Telling people that communism was a danger at home and abroad. He distributed a booklet called “The Party of Betrayal” to some of his audiences, which accused democrat leaders of being corrupt and protecting communists. In the ever-growing fear of communism, Americans were ready to believe him. After the 1952 election gave the republicans control of congress, McCarthy used his power gained from becoming a chairman of the senate sub-committee on investigations to force government officials to testify about claimed communist influences. In 1954, however, McCarthy lost his touch with the press. He began to look for Soviet spies within the United States army. When the army heard of this, and McCarthy’s intentions, they began their own internal investigation and found no spies, or even any suspicion of spies in the army. When McCarthy heard that the army was clean of any deceit by any soldier or officer, he became furious and took his own investigation, in which he put on television. McCarthy question the army in a harsh tone, harassed them on trivial details, and accused them of misconduct. During the weeks of the televised Army-McCarthy hearings, many Americans watched, and saw the way that McCarthy bullied his witnesses. With the publicized hearings, McCarthy lost many of his supporters. After McCarthy’s formal meeting with an army lawyer, Joseph Welch, the senate passed a censure to remove McCarthy from his position of power, though he was able to stay on the senate. McCarthy’s way of damaging reputations with unclear and unsupported reasons became known as McCarthyism.
McCarthyism basically lasted from June 29th, 1940 when the Alien Registration Act was passed till December 2nd, 1954 when McCarthy lost his power as chairman of the Government Committee on Operations of the Senate. Now that you know some of what McCarthyism is, do you see it appear in any other event in history? Or present , for that matter?