The role of partisan politics in the spread of McCarthyism

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Part A: Plan of the Investigation

The end of the Second World War in 1945 saw the United States lose two enemies in Germany and Japan, but gain a new one in the Soviet Union - the Cold War had begun. Although the majority of Americans had always opposed communism, the States experienced a particularly extreme and severe period of anti-communism lasting roughly from the late 1940s to the late 1950s. This period became known as 'McCarthyism', a word derived from U.S. Republican Senator Joe McCarthy. McCarthy was seen by many as "a ruthless and irresponsible political opportunist, a demagogue and a totalitarian" 1 and McCarthyism is now remembered as a time of fear and uncertainty when fundamental civil liberties were downtrodden under the guise of national security.

In researching this appalling period in American history, I hope to uncover not only what factors gave way to the rise of McCarthyism, but more specifically, the role partisan politics played in allowing and encouraging McCarthyism to spread.

Research will be conducted using a variety of books including The Age of Anxiety: McCarthyism to Terrorism by Haynes Johnson, Seeds of repression; Harry S. Truman and