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There was little if any, factual basis to stories about infiltration; a publicity seeking, somewhat paranoid, heavily drinking Senator, named Joe McCarthy set himself up as a "commie detector". He held long, baseless hearings in Congress, accused many, many people of being communists, with only the word of others paid to "speak out", or in some cases, on no more basis than that a relative of the accused, originally came from the USSR. Some of his accusations were made on the basis of no evidence at all.
After ruining many lives, McCarthy was finally disgraced after bizarre allegations against US Army personnel. One of his cadre, Roy Cohn, was particularly brutal, sometimes blackmailing the innocent into sex acts to avoid exposure. Some choose suicide over the disgrace the powerful McCarthy arbitrarily meted out*.
At the end, one brave US Army attorney, Joseph N. Welch, had the courage to stand up for America and denounce the crew of liars. Eisenhower also began to move toward an end to the McCarthy witch hunt.
McCarthy died, drunk, and stripped of power, after losing his iron fist, and one of the darkest periods in 20th century US history came to an end.
*One US soldier, after his parents had been "revealed" by the McCarthyites as having read a Russian language newspaper, took his own life. Several books and movies have been released, detailing the horrors of the McCarthy years.
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What caused the red scare of the 1940s and 1950s-?
The fear that communists outside and inside America were working to destroy american life
What started the welfare system?
In Britain the Beveridge Report in the 1940s was very influential in the Labour post war government of Clement Attlee. It established the 'Welfare State'.
Were there any poplitical scandals during 1940's?
yes there was a lot of sandals in the 1940s
Whose actions did not challenge the racial status quo during the 1940s?
Martin Luther King, Jr
How did Russian immigrants get to America?
Those who came to the United States as immigrants between 1492 and and late 1940s all came by boat. After the late 1940s more and more could come by airplane. since the 1960s, virtually every immigrant has come by airplane, except for those who walked or drove across a border between two countries in America.
The Chinese Communists were successful in their revolution during the 1930s and 1940s mainly because the Communists?
Emphasized the needs of the rural peasant population
During the 1930s and 1940s which type of government controlled Germany?
Fascism from 1933 until 1945
Population in 1930s-1940s?
In the 1930s there were about 131,000,000 people living in the United States. In the 1940s this number increased to about 134,000,000.
Where did Hemingway live in 1930s and 1940s?
Spain.
When was Cystic fibrosis discovered?
1930s - 1940s
When did Tap start?
during the 1930s to the 1940s
New Criticism it first began when?
1930s and 1940s
When did tap dancing start?
during the 1930s to the 1940s
During the 1930s and 1940s Germany was controlled by an?
the dictatorship
The 1930s and 1940s were known as the golden age of?
swing
Where was the center of the black music world in the 1930s and 1940s?
In the 1920s and 1930s it was Harlem, New York City.
What were the main causes of death in UK in 1930s and 1940s?
Meningitus
