McCarthyism was an overzealous attempt to destroy?

Answer 1

Communism, in the eyes of Senator McCarthy was a threat to the USA. He based his opinion on the fact that the Soviet Union's foreign policy was expansive. Under Stalin, the USSR, had occupied the eastern half of Europe. The Soviets also processed the atomic bomb. He was concerned that China became a communist nation. He was also concerned about the UN war against North Korea. North Korea was a communist country and had invaded South Korea. The UN decided to defeat the Communist attempt to conquer South Korea. This war, whose armies were mostly made up from the US's forces had cost the US 28,000 men. Other countries the UN's army were Australia, Canada, the UK, South Korea and several other UN member nations. He feared the Chinese communists as they helped North Korea in this war.

With these international communist activities, McCarthy became alarmed. If the communism of Lenin and Stalin was not so "successful" for all practical purposes, communism posed no threat to the USA and its allies in Europe, Canada and also Australia.

This can be supported by the fact that from 1917 to the 1950's, communist parties existed in many nations of the world. Only because of WW2, did the Soviet Union expand. China was a problem though. It had taken hold after the end of WW2.

McCarthy and his staff which included Robert F. Kennedy and several well known US lawyers worried that people with influence in the USA were communists. He was concerned about labor leaders, especially the UAW, and some longshoreman unions were being controlled by Moscow. The death sentence for Rosenbergs for sending atomic secrets to Moscow was also an event to McCarthy that communism was making dangerous inroads in the USA.

He began a series of Senate hearings to expose what he thought were communists in the film industry, there were Hollywood writers on his list of communists. He also thought that the US military was infected with communists.

At some point his hearings now became "out of hand". McCarthy had gone over the top with his exposure of so called communists. The US Senate censured him and President Eisenhower saw mcCarthy as a threat to freedoms of speech and his ruining the reputation of people who had committed no crimes.