HST/165 Research Essay on Red Scare

Research Essay on Red Scare
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Abstract
The Cold War Era and political, economic, and social conflicts between the two global giants of the 20th century introduced the “Red Scare” in the United States. During that time several legislative and institutional developments were made to eliminate the communism from the American society and directly resulted in the suffering of thousands of American citizens. This essay is written to review such developments and their implications for the American society.
Research Essay on Red Scare
The Cold War which had started from the ashes of the World War 2 intensified in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The major participants of the conflict Soviet Union and the United States of America were striving for the world dominance, leaving the world in constant fear of all-out conflict including the use of weapons of mass destruction by the two global giants against each other (Goodall, 2017). In the United States, the fear of communism depicted itself as hysteria and the threat of communists within the American boundaries became one of the darkest time with regards to basic human rights in the history of the United States. This psychological state of the American government is known as the “Red Scare” (Goodall, 2017). The people who had affiliations with the communism or had socialist ideas were labeled as “Reds” owing to the red flag of the Soviet Union. Almost every aspect of the American Society experienced the negative consequences of this type discrimination. Even the federal employees were re-evaluated according to their loyalties to the government and a dedicated committee in the Senate was assigned the task of getting rid of the “communism” within the American society (Goodall, 2017). This essay aims at evaluating the evolution, actions, and implications of the “Red Scare” on the American Society.
Following the World War II (1939-45) the rivalry between former allies the democratic United States and the communist Soviet Union significantly increased. Both powers were engaged in social, political, armed, and economic wars against each other at the global level. For instance, the building of the Berlin Wall, the American and Soviet engagement in the Korean Conflict against each other, and America’s participation in Vietnam War are considered as prime examples of intensified conflict between the two global giants (Goodall, 2017). The global engagement also created a fear at domestic level as it was believed that some leftists and sympathizers in the American society might be directly involved in espionage activities for the Soviet Union.
The fear of domestic “communism” was not established on groundless realities as it is an admitted fact that the Soviet Union had been engaged in active espionage of the United States for decades. The spy activities were carried out by the US citizens and the Soviet Union was able to penetrate every sector of American society and carry out its spy operations. The US leaders decided to take action against such domestic threats and President Harry S. Truman issued an executive order number 9835 which mandated the re-evaluation of all of the federal employees with respect to their loyalty to US government and its constitution (Editors, 2018). The passing of such an order was considered as \startling’ development as the United States was one of the countries which pride itself on political freedom for its population (Editors, ...