【2/9 今日美史】麦卡锡主义是怎么回事？怎么开始的？
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2/9
McCarthyism
|
When |
Where |
Who |
What |
Joseph McCarthy
Why
significant
During a speech in Wheeling, West Virginia, Senator Joseph McCarthy claimed that he had a list with the names of over 200 members of the Department of State that were “known communists.”
At the time, China had fallen to a communist revolution, and the Soviets had detonated an atomic device. McCarthy’s wild charges provided a ready explanation for these foreign policy disasters: communist subversives were working within the the U.S. government. Therefore, the speech vaulted McCarthy to national prominence and sparked a nationwide hysteria about subversives in the American government.
This witch-hunt for communists in the U.S. later came to be known as “McCarthyism.” It did untold damage to many people’s lives and careers, had a muzzling effect on domestic debate on Cold War issues, and managed to scare millions of Americans. However, McCarthy never revealed any name, nor produced any solid evidence for his accusation. He finally lost credibility and support in 1954 when he accused the Army of coddling known communists.
Tags
McCarthyism, Cold War, Joseph McCarthy