The Age of McCarthyism by Ellen Schecker - Book Report/Review Example

The Age of McCarthyism by Ellen Schecker McCarthyism Era During the McCarthyism era in the late 1940s and in 1950s major accusations were made against the American Communist Party of disloyalty and treason in most cases without proper evidence. The era was characterized by the fear of communist influence on the political movement of America and infiltration by Soviet agents. The communist party was in no way responsible for becoming the target of such accusations but during the era their policies and practices were regarded as a threat to American security. Although such threat mostly had no factual evidence but they were not totally false. The American Communist Party’s secret nature of operation and its ties with the Soviet Union gave reason to believe that United States faced danger from the communists (Schrecker, 5-6). Constitutional Protections The communists in America always faced hostility even before the formation of the American Communist Party during the Bolshevik Revolution. Many groups and individuals who later became opponents of the party were already involved in fighting other radicals. There growing concern about the communists resulted in the formation of the anti-communist network in the late 1940s to fight against domestic communism. Although most Americans at that time brewed anti communism but these groups differed by their intensity. The anti-communist network took concrete shape during the McCarthy period and had their own agenda which they imposed on the entire nation. (Schrecker, 12) The criminal justice system formed during this period was the most powerful anti-communist weapon in the federal arsenal. The Truman administration by indicting the communists of treason against America shaped the general public’s notion of domestic communism. All the major trials garnered wide ranging publicity to strengthen the growing belief that the communists were a danger to the nation’s security. Alger Hiss and Rosenbergs who were accused espionage agents were prosecuted and this enforced the belief that the communists were Russian spies. One of the most important anti-communist cases was the Smith Act trial which was held in 1949. During this trial the important members of the American Communist Party were accused of illegal conspiracy against America (Schrecker, 27). In the Alger Hiss case the first document that was found was the text of a telegram sent in 1945 to Moscow by the head of the Soviet Intelligence bureau in Washington. The telegram described the activities of an American with the code name of ALES who was an espionage agent for Soviet military intelligence. Hiss was convicted as ALES because his travels paralleled the travels mentioned in the document, ‘The Emergence of the Hiss Case’ by the individual named ALES (Schrecker, 134). The McCarthyism laws regarded outsiders like foreigners, political dissidents and religious minorities as threat within the boundaries of America. Believing in their own suspicions and threats to national security, many Americans conveniently accused the powerless minorities of disloyalty. Everyone from Native Americans, African Americans, Catholics and immigrants found themselves in trial for treason. These insecurities may have born from anxieties about “individual autonomy and loss of communities” (Schrecker, 14). Kim Hunter who was an American film and television actress became the target of anti-communist parties and was under investigation in 1951. She was a liberal who was involved in Democratic action committed to social reforms (Schrecker, 255). Everyone from local politicians and business leaders sought in their own way to suppress their own chosen minorities to protect the United States against the threat of domestic communism. Some groups used their insecurities to exhibit hostility against there self determined opponents. One such important group was the business communities group who opposed organised labour. Business leaders claimed that the demands of the workers did not have any legitimate issues but were encouraged by “foreign-born, bomb-wielding Reds”. These business leaders suppressed the labour militants and the leftists. Private detective companies and federal agencies like FBI were formed with the primary target of repressing radicalism and fight all labour unrest. Politicians and bureaucrats made full effort to publicize their anti-communism activities to prove themselves as patriots and dedicated communists like J. Edgar Hoover strived to remove communism from all aspects of American life. Even going against the order to curb his political activities Hoover kept a close watch on the American Communist Party and the other leftists (Schrecker, 14). Partisan Politics The congressional investigating committees also followed the policies of partisan politics. Conservatives who were members or non-members of the Republican party used partisan politics to attack the “liberalism of the New Deal and the Truman administration”. On the local level, the committees helped and funded their supporters and allies within the network of anti-communism. Hearings were held during convenient times to align them with crucial moments ‘strikes, union elections or sessions of state legislatures.” The committees also acted as partners in activities with the rest of the anti-communist network. They did research and fieldwork to garner information. They could accuse and bring to trial specific groups and individuals. Such trials were widely publicized and the accused groups and individuals were punished for alleged affiliation with the American Communist Party. The anti-communist groups could get information from the reports and hearings published by the committees and accordingly plan their strategies for their movements against the communists. All the information published by the committees were stored and maintained by the HUAC and unlike the FBI, it did not conceal and documents and openly shared them with the members of the American Communist Party and its constituents (Schrecker, 63-64). Public Opinion The congressional investigating committees characterized the era of McCarthyism. These committees helped in spreading anti-communist crusade in all spheres of the society. Their political activities and the wide ranging publicity that they garnered transformed a narrowly focused movement on American Communist Party into a wide spread campaign that virtually affected every aspect of American life. The activities of these committees were reflections of the activities of legal bodies. They widely publicized their vision of Communist threat on America. Their hearings produced same results as those in judicial trials. Even the charges, witnesses and defendants were the same. However, since these committees had an added advantage of being immune from rules and requirements that were parts of criminal prosecutions, the committees had more scopes to “denounce and accuse” the suspects. The committees were known for punishing suspects by mere basis of suspicions of their communist connections. More often hearings produced results without the existence of concrete proof against the accused (Schrecker, 63). Most people who faced trials during the McCarthyism era were communists, former communists or were closely associated with the communists. These people both men and women lost their jobs, served sentences in jail or were harassed in other ways (Schrecker, 5). On October 2, 1961 Junius Scales who was 41 years old and a former communist submitted himself to the federal marshal. He was sentenced to the prison for six years for his alliance with the American Communist Party (Schrecker, 1). Many people who were brought to trial before the HUAC were no longer active members of the American Communist Party. Many of them refused to cooperate with the investigating committees for political reasons to defy the investigators. There were others who admitted their past alliance with the communist party but they refused to give out any names on moral grounds (Schrecker, 66). Playwright Lillian Hellman was summoned to testify before the HUAC in 1952. Initially, she submitted a document which said that she was associated with the communist party for two years which ended in 1940 but she did not condemn the party. She refused to discuss about those she knew who were members of the party. She submitted one document ‘Lillian Hellman takes the Fifth Amendment’ in which she stated “I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year’s fashions” (Schrecker, 226-227). Through insistent publicity of these trials the congressional investigating committees were able to generate public opinions by infiltrating many popular and reputable mediums of public opinion. The propaganda strategies adopted by the committees were designed to instigate anti-communism among the common public in America (Schrecker, 129). Conclusion The era of McCarthyism created political divisions in America to manifest their anti-communist concerns but this policy is still controversial today. While some believe that Soviet Union was engaged in espionage activities in America and so the extreme measures were justified there are others who believe that McCarthyism overplayed the role of Soviet Union as spies in America. Some believe that Soviet spies could not do any substantial damage after World War II. These believers conclude that McCarthyism proved to be more destructive to the constitution than the American Communist Party. References 1. Schrecker, Ellen. The Age of McCarthyism: A Brief History with Documents, USA: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002 Read More