Middle class Americans were scared into social conformation in their beliefs and fears of communist infiltration into the US society.
People who lived outside of large cities like San Francisco and New York suffered more when blacklisted because they did not have a large contingency of liberal minded people, as did those blacklisted in large cities.
The effects of being named by McCarthy penetrated the victoms' lives to the point that their children suffered at school. The children of those named lost play mates and were tormented by other children.
Professors avoided lecturing on subjecfts of social reform or the direction of the arms race, in fear of seeming too liberal and being called a communist.
The political repression that McCarthy enforced moved the country furthre towards a national security state and furthered totalitarian practices into civil society.
The film industry was scared out of mixing anything perceivably close to controversial social or political issues into their productions. TV broadcasts in the 1950's were limited to non-controversial quiz shows and westerns.
Asian policy specialists working in the State Department were fired due to McCarthy's unjust purges. In the decade following, these specialists were absent, as was their knowledge and counsel towards US action in Vietnam.
Unfounded rumors of a homosexual undreground abetting the "communist conspiracy" scared employers into believing they could be accuse of protecting subversives.
Even after Americans realized that communist infiltration in American society was hardly a threat, the antidemocratic practices remained. The integrities of US liberties were much weakened by McCarthyism, which allowed the strengthening of totalitarian practices into the 1960's, 70's, and even into the 80's.
Wrong doers: FBI's secret COINTELPRO program; Richard Nixon; Robert McFarlene and Oliver North
McCarthy's actions contributed majorly to loosening US unity, and were very destructive to the trust and honesty among the poiticians and the domestic and foreign policy makers. Evidence of this erosion is seen in the strengths and liberties taken by these self-righteous wrong doers in the years following McCarthy's hearings.
Professor's comments:
Spelling and grammar are issues once again on this page. Seeing this sort of repetition of basic spelling and grammar errors should get on your nerves as a student. There is no excuse for this repetitive pattern; it is your job as college students to zero-in on these, to search the text for them, and correct them.
This section is strong piece within the webpage; it describes the sort of harms the came about by McCarthyism, offering details of names, dates, and programs. Nice section.
In what way is "wrong doers" used above? Clarification needed.
I really liked the point you made in your presentation about the loss of Asian advisors in US government during this era, and how that is identified as sure weakness of the following generation which needed Asian, and specifically Asian communist insight into the Vietnam conflict. Their presence as cross-cultural and geopolitical advisors may have saved many lives. I don't see that point made here; it would have been a nice addition.
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