Saturday, March 23, 2019

The Second Red Scare Essay -- Politics McCarthyism McCarthy

The Second Red ScareThe McCarthy era, which generally spanned from 1947 to 1957, brought to the forefront of American politics the question of well-behaved rights. At issue were controversies about both First Amendment rights to assembly and free speech and Fifth Amendment rights to due offset and freedom from self-incrimination. Anti-Communist actions often involved restrictions on these rights, and heading the anti-Communist movement was the mansion house perpetration on Un-American Activities (HUAC). This committee, which consisted of government officials from Congress, was formed to investigate the flagellum of Communism in America. In doing so, the committee brought in witnesses, usually individuals eyeshot to have, or to have had, Communist affiliations. The overzealous tendencies of HUAC, however, resulted in the use of intimidation and smear tactics in its quest to expose a suppositional Communist conspiracy. Coming to the defense of individuals under attack by anti-C ommunists was the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The ACLUs aim was to champion civil rights, heedless of the ideologies of the groups it defended. Its activities have ranged, for example, from defending the rights of Nazis to protest during the seventies to espousing the abolition of segregated schools in the South during the fifties. In the McCarthy era, the ACLU had its hands full dealing with threats to civil rights that caulescent from anti-Communism. The ACLU, however, was not without its own anti-Communistic sentiments. Indeed, within the ACLU was a cadre of anti-Communist members that made it problematical at times for the ACLU to take a strong stance for the civil liberties of suspected Communists.This side of the ACLU often gets overlooked, as do the original intentio... ...arvard U.P., 1955. Kazan, Elia. decision maker Hearing. Laws and Orders Humanities and the Regulation of Society.Ed. Gail Hart. Boston. Pearson Custom Publishing, 2002 402-408. Parnell, Thom as. Transcripts from Hearing Before the House Committee on Un-AmericanActivities (HUAC). Laws and Orders Humanities and the Regulation of Society. Ed. Gail Hart. Boston. Pearson Custom Publishing, 2002 398-401. Schrecker, Ellen W. Archival Sources for the mull over of McCarthyism. The Journal of AmericanHistory. 75.1 (June 1988) 197-208. JSTOR. calcium Digital Lib., U of California,Irvine. 11 may 2002 . Walker, Samuel. In Defense of American Liberties a History of the ACLU. New York. OxfordU.P., 1990. JSTOR. California Digital Lib., U of California, Irvine. 13 May 2002.

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