US History - Standards of Learning - USII.24
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/mccarthyism.html
The American Masters series does a profile of the McCarthy Era. The story of 12 well known communist sympathizers are featured on this site. Sahl and Murrows resistance to to McCarthy are also featured here.
-Carl Robidoux
2. McCarthyism
http://www.colorado.edu/AmStudies/lewis/2010/mccarthy.htm
The site was created for a course on McCarthyism. There are many links to
source articles. The premise of the site deals with McCarthyism and free
speech. The is information on blacklist, the fifth amendment, and a lot of
the terminology associated with this era.
-Carl Robidoux
3. McCarthy Wheeling speech
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6456
February 9, 1950 speech by Senator Joseph McCarthy, this speech marked his
arrival on the national stage as the country’s most ardent anti-Communist.
This speech marks the beginning of the ‘McCarthyism’ period in US history.
This speech is notable for the differences between the advance copy and the
actual speech including McCarthy changing the number of accused Communists.
Students can speculate why they think McCarthy changed the numbers, leading
to a deeper discussion of McCarthy and his motives and veracity.
-Christopher Borden
4. Image of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
http://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson_images/lesson690/TheRosenbergs.jpg
Image of the two Rosenbergs together shortly before their execution, gives a
face to these two victims of McCarthyism and allows students to perhaps
empathize with them in their last days. Many people were named and accused
during McCarthyism and these two were among the most prominent victims of
that hysteria.
-Christopher Borden
5. Political Cartoon—Herb Block, “It’s Okay,
We’re Hunting Communists”
http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/swann/herblock/images/s03380u.jpg
Political cartoonist Herb Block (HerBlock) drew this cartoon satirizing the
efforts of the Committee on Un-American Activities. It shows the committee
as a run away car with the passenger excusing the carnage by exclaiming
“It’s Okay, We’re Hunting Communists.”
-Christopher Borden
6. Political Cartoon—Herb Block, “Fire!”
http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/swann/herblock/images/hblock2.jpg
This is a Herb Block cartoon showing a hysterical man climbing the Statue of
Liberty to douse its flame and screaming fire. This cartoon is satirizing
the hysteria of country regarding Communism; it suggests that people were
willing to extinguish liberty to get rid of the scourge of Communism.
-Christopher Borden
7. Political Cartoon—Herb Block “You Read
Books, Eh?”
http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/swann/herblock/images/s03399u.jpg
The cartoon shows a young female teacher being interrogated by an
“Anti-Subversive Committee.” Again, Herb Block is trying to show the
extremes of the federal government in investigating claims of Communism. The
investigators are going through the woman’s trash, her desk, examining the
map of the world on her board and taking notes on a picture of Thomas
Jefferson.
-Christopher Borden
8. Political Cartoon—Herb Block “You Mean I’m
Supposed to Stand on That?”
http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/swann/herblock/images/hblock4.jpg
Political cartoon showing a reluctant GOP elephant being forced on to a
platform of smear by conservative Republican senators. This cartoon is the
first known use of the term “McCarthyism.”
-Christopher Borden
9. Political Cartoon—Herb Block “We now have
new and important evidence”
http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/swann/herblock/images/s03408u.jpg
Senator Joseph McCarthy's continued string of reckless charges of communism
in government created such a sensation that the Senate appointed a special
committee under Millard E. Tydings to investigate his "evidence." McCarthy
managed to turn the hearings into a circus, each new charge obscuring the
fact that earlier accusations weren't backed up. Despite a final report by
the committee discrediting McCarthy's tactics and evidence, he emerged with
more general support than ever. And "anti-subversive" hearings by other
committees of Congress, particularly the Senate Internal Security Committee
headed by Senator Pat McCarran (D-Nevada), continued treating rumors and
unsupported charges as "evidence."
-Christopher Borden
10. Political Cartoon—Herb Block “Say, What
Ever Happened To Freedom From Fear?”
http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/swann/herblock/images/hblock7.jpg
As Senator Joseph McCarthy's campaign against State Department and Justice
Department officials continued, President Harry Truman spoke against
"scaremongers and hatemongers" who "are trying to create fear and suspicion
among us by the use of slander, unproved accusations, and just plain lies."
-Christopher Borden
11. Political Cartoon—Herb Block “Nothing
Exceed Like Excess”
http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/swann/herblock/images/s03493u.jpg
Senator Joseph McCarthy's irresponsible tactics were endorsed by many voters
who felt that the communist threat was such that the means justified the
ends. A non-combat veteran, he had used the nickname "Tail-gunner Joe" to
win a Senate seat after the war. He then latched on to anti-communism as a
winning tactic for re-election. Other politicians, recognizing pay dirt when
they saw it, jumped on his tar-barrel bandwagon. The attacks on the Truman
Administration continued even as President Harry Truman was fighting a war
against communist aggression in Korea. At the State Department's request,
Herb Block contributed a booklet of his anticommunist cartoons for
distribution abroad. McCarthy used this to charge that he was in the pay of
the administration. When confronted by a reporter, McCarthy backed down.
-Christopher Borden
12. Political Cartoon—Herb Block “I Have Here
In My Hand…”
http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/swann/herblock/images/s03479u.jpg
In 1954, Senator Joseph McCarthy went too far when he took on the United
States Army, accusing it of promoting communists. The Senate held special
hearings, known as the Army-McCarthy hearings, which were among the first to
be televised nationally. In the course of testimony McCarthy submitted
evidence that was identified as fraudulent. As both public and politicians
watched the bullying antics of the Senator, they became increasingly
disenchanted. Before the year was out McCarthy, whose charges had first hit
the headlines in February 1950, was censured by his colleagues for "conduct
unbecoming a senator."
-Christopher Borden
13. Political Cartoon—Herb Block “Stand fast,
men—They’re armed with marshmallows!”
http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/swann/herblock/images/hblock6.jpg
Even with Senator Joseph McCarthy on the wane, the general hysteria
continued in many forms by assorted super patriots. In the summer of 1954, a
branch of the American Legion denounced the Girl Scouts, calling the "one
world" ideas advocated in their publications "un-American."
-Christopher Borden
14. Political Cartoon—Herb Block “Here He
Comes Now”
http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/swann/herblock/images/hblock9.jpg
Richard Nixon had discovered the power of smear attacks in his early
campaigns for the House of Representatives and Senate years before Senator
McCarthy began to use them. In 1954, during his vice-presidential campaign
for re-election, Nixon traveled the country to charging previous Democratic
administrations and current Democratic members of Congress with being soft
on communism. His targets included some of the most respected members of the
Senate. Herb Block's 1954 depiction of the emerging campaigner would stick
with Nixon throughout his career.
-Christopher Borden
