McCarthyism

A. List three things the author said that you think are important:
     1. "McCarthy was nearing the end of his first term as senator and needed a big issue to energize his
         run for a second term." This statement shows the desire for power and the longing to make a
         mark in history by basically saying that Senator McCarthy would go to any lengths to remain in
         Senate.


     2. "During the weeks before McCarthy delivered his Wheeling speech, China had fallen to the
         Communists and the Soviet Union had tested an atomic bomb." This sentence here shows that
         Communism was a real threat in the 1950's and it shot fear into those who were against it,
         sending the idea that they soon may become a Communistic nation.

     3. "His 1954 probe of the U.S. Army lead to his downfall. The Army-McCarthy hearings were
         televised nationally, and the public recoiled from McCarthy's bullying tactics. He was censured
         by the Senate and died in 1957." These sentences show that the situation that helped Senator
         McCarthy gain a seat in the Senate, also led him to his downfall and all of the many people who
         had been oppressed from McCarthy's tactics and accusations were beginning to spring back up.
         It also conveys the idea that Senator McCarthy's death may have gone hand-in-hand with the
         actions he took to get into the Senate.

B. Why do you think this document was written?
     I believe that the telegram was written to show how determined Senator McCarthy was to gain a seat in the Senate, and if that meant to go out and accuse people of practicing Communism, then so be it. It conveys the idea of how much Senator McCarthy opposed Communism and was willing to send a letter to the President in order to rid the nation of any spies or individuals of that sort. It also seems that Senator McCarthy is trying to shift the blame onto the President for there being Communists in the State Department.

C. What evidence in the document helps you know why it was written? Quote from the document:
     "Despite this State Department Blackout, we have been able to compile a list of 57 Communists in the State Department. This list is Available to you, but you can get a much longer list by ordering the Secretary Acheson to give you a list of these whom your own board listed as being disloyal, and who are still working in the State Department."

D. List two things the document tells you about life in the United States at the time it was written:
     1.It seemed that many people of this era were fearful of the idea of Communism and when this situation was brought up it sent the citizens into a all out panic. Especially seeing that the Communist Soviet Union had been experimenting with atomic/ nuclear explosives.
     2.This document also showed that many Americans shared a distinct distrust for the way the government was running and with the idea of possibly having 57 government officials, who were Communist, in the State Department, sent much suspicions into the minds of these fearful Americans.

E. Write a question to the author that is left unanswered by the document:
     It seems a little suspicious about how Senator Joseph McCarthy died, seeing that the year he was censured by the State is the same year of his death. I would like to know how he died and could it be possibly because of the actions he took to get into the Senate.

F. Date of document:
     February 11, 1950

G. Author:
     Senator Joseph McCarthy

H. Purpose of document:
     The purpose of the document was so that McCarthy could try to use some leverage, for his own personal gain, by offering up the idea that there were some individuals in the State Department that were in fact Communist. Sending the telegram to President Harry Truman, Senator McCarthy seemed to have been shifting the blame and pointing the finger towards the President and that he was to correct this mistake. It can be determined from reading the document that Senator McCarthy was only looking out for himself and only what he could accomplish in the long run and would go to such lengths as to single out those in the government and accuse them of being involved with the Communist Party.