McCarthy Era and McCarthyism

[pagan]

Can some of you History buffs give me some points on this?

I have been asked to go over a 20page report for a german university student in bayreuth.

I said I would look at it for english grammatical/spelling errors, and then add some ideas if I can find any that should be in the report.

What I don't know is, if what I'm reading is correct __PLUS__ what major points should I be looking for : positive or negative

I don't know if we are 'allowed' to put this stuff in here.

pagan@starmail.com

[DocD]

I would like to help, but 20 pages.....uh...is that my wife calling me?....uh got to go.

[elbowsanchez]

post it at don's chatter area, im sure you will get some interesting feedback there...

LOL DocD....

[ButchOHare1]

Joe McCarthy was a US Senator from Appleton, Wisconsin. In the early 50s he held hearings on the infiltration of Communists in the State Department. Later he expanded his targets to include the US Army which eventually led to a backlash against him.

"McCarthyism" is a term used to refer to the entire "red scare," and the tactics of red baiting. Politicians like McCarthy and a young Richard Nixon became national figures by hurling accusations of communist sympathies. I'm sure there is plenty of info on the web regarding this.

[Stephen]

Well I'm not a history buff. :)

Essentially McCarthyism was an over-reaction against the perceived threat Soviet Russia and communism posed to America in the early post-45 era. Because of the exposure of spy-rings in Canada, UK and the threat of communist takeovers in places like France and Italy (and the ones that succeeded in Czechoslovakia, etc...), the US was a little nervous about the activities of communists in America. So basically they hauled a bunch of people in front of congressional committees grilling them on whether they were communists. Eventually, cooler heads prevailed and they stopped wasting their time.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

[Kaufschtick]

I would like to help, but 20 pages.....uh...is that my wife calling me?....uh got to go.

Good one Doc! :D You always get me laughing! :D

[Lt Dan]

Former KGB Chief Oleg Kalugin was interviewed and one of the questions was about McCarthy. He said that McCarthy only was half right about how far the communists had infiltrated the government. As paranoid as McCarthy appeared to be, he was only scratching the surface of the truth. Even in some of the claims where he was completely full of it, he was closer to the truth than his detractors. Yet Kalugin still maintained that McCarthy was unconstitutional and a bit nuts.

[Maj.Striker]

Yet Kalugin still maintained that McCarthy was unconstitutional and a bit nuts.

That's kinda funny...a KGB chief saying an American is unconstitutional...

[RuHurt]

Stephen; while McCarthy may have not been the most subtle of politicians, he was absolutely correct about the amount of infiltration of Communists into the American government. The mere fact that he was vilified by the American Liberals (read Communist Sympathizers) simply goes to prove the point. After all, those were the same people who were saying Stalin wasn't so bad... :mad:

[newaxis]

Is it too late to help out with the report?

Edit: btw, I have a BA in History

[sking500]

btw, I have a BA

Isn't that kind of personal?