Many Are the Crimes: McCarthyism in America

O'Reilly, Kenneth; Schrecker, Ellen

doi:10.2307/2649450

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“…The war effort severely constrained financial resources, school enrollments plummeted, teachers abandoned the profession, and inflation was widespread. In addition, McCarthyism and the red scare promoted a virulent form of conservatism that propagated falsehoods about the motivations and activities of academics, educators, government employees, politicians, union activists, and other groups (Schrecker, 1999). Further, the launching of the USSR's Sputnik satellite tarnished America's prestige and raised serious concerns about the possibility of an existential threat posed by the Soviet's technological accomplishments (Wissehr et al, 2011).…”

Section: Final Thoughtsmentioning

confidence: 99%

When the Truth Doesn’t Seem to Matter: The Affordances of Disciplinary Argument in the Era of Post-truth

Ferretti

2023

Written Communication

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A disquieting aspect of some contemporary public discourse is its seeming indifference to or abandonment of any pretense to truth. Among other things, unsubstantiated and misleading claims have been made about the efficacy of vaccines and other purported treatments for SARS-COVID, the 2020 U.S. presidential election, and the January 6, 2021, insurrection on the U.S. Capitol. In addition, a spate of legislation restricting classroom discussion and instruction related to race, bias, privilege, and discrimination has been or is pending passage in U.S. state legislatures. These restrictions are antithetical to core functions of education, which are to inculcate the values, virtues, and advanced literacy skills that support democratic deliberation about controversial issues. This article discusses the increasing political polarization and partisan attacks on the processes of education and the threats to liberal democracy posed by this disregard for the truth. In addition, it reviews the cultural and psychological factors that increase our susceptibility to misinformation and presents a perspective about the pursuit of truth that highlights the educational affordances of disciplinary inquiry, democratic deliberation, and reasonable argumentation. The contemporary challenges are manifestations of long-standing political and cultural divisions, and their mitigation will depend on developing communities of informed citizens that are committed to the values and virtues that are foundational to liberal democracy.

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Section: Final Thoughtsmentioning

confidence: 99%

When the Truth Doesn’t Seem to Matter: The Affordances of Disciplinary Argument in the Era of Post-truth

Ferretti

2023

Written Communication

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“…They have argued that McCarthy's impact on the American 'red scare' was quite limited, with him acting more as a figurehead and the embodiment of the times rather than being the chief catalyst of anti-communist repression. 7 'McCarthy was a gifted demagogue whose wildly irresponsible charges of communism brought him the publicity he craved', noted Ellen Schrecker, an expert on American McCarthyism, 'but his antics distracted the attention of contemporaries and historians and caused them to overlook the more profound and enduring aspects of the anti-communist crusade of the 1940s and 1950s'. 8 In practice, McCarthy's investigations affected the lives of less than two hundred Americans.…”

Section: Attempts To Classify 'Mccarthyism' Have Been Ongoing Since Thementioning

confidence: 99%

British McCarthyism: The Anti‐Communist Politics of Lord Vansittart and Sir Waldron Smithers

Gerth

2022

History

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Contemporaneously to the American McCarthyite response towards communism during the early cold war there existed a similar reaction in the United Kingdom. Like its counterpart in the United States, British McCarthyism not only attacked internal 'reds' but also non-communist elements within the nation's borders. The phenomenon denounced and accused governmental and societal institutions and individuals for tolerating and even abetting the communist conspiracy then supposedly threatening the survival of the realm. Led by former Foreign Office mandarin Robert Vansittart and championed by the Conservative member of parliament Waldron Smithers, this British McCarthyism targeted the Church of England, the BCC and most notably the governing Labour party. The article explores how this politicised form of British anti-communism functioned and transpired. IIn many countries, the Cold War produced a form of political repression and societal paranoia that denounced governmental and civic institutions. A famous case occurred in 1950, when a right-wing politician dramatically publicised to his colleagues and the world that communism had infiltrated the government on several levels and was a dire threat to the security of his nation. Holding a list of names of likely traitors, he demanded a full investigation and a purging of these and other 'reds' from public service as well as parts of civil society including the arts and education. He declared that a communist fifth column existed inside the country and that, to all intents and purposes '[w]e on our part must realise that we are at war -the greatest war in history'. These accusations made international headlines, with newspaper articles about them appearing across the Atlantic and even making front-page news as far away as Australia. He was labelled a demagogue by many of his fellow countrymen, and soon afterwards, in a wave of public uproar, an attempt to censure him almost succeeded. Though these events are eerily redolent of the rise of Joseph McCarthy to the forefront of American politics, the setting for this drama was not the halls of Congress in Washington DC, but the chamber of the House

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Many Are the Crimes: McCarthyism in America

Cited by 2 publications

References 0 publications

When the Truth Doesn’t Seem to Matter: The Affordances of Disciplinary Argument in the Era of Post-truth

When the Truth Doesn’t Seem to Matter: The Affordances of Disciplinary Argument in the Era of Post-truth

British McCarthyism: The Anti‐Communist Politics of Lord Vansittart and Sir Waldron Smithers

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