Question

help please :) During the Cold War, people were afraid of communists, both outside and inside the United States. The Red Scare and McCarthyism that grew out of these fears were damaging to the American way of life. During the McCarthy years, many of the freedoms guaranteed in the Bill of Rights were limited. Write a paragraph explaining what lessons can be learned from the McCarthy era about what U.S. citizens need to protect in order to preserve the democratic political system and the American way of life.

Answer 1

The McCarthy era showed the importance of protecting Americans rights to free speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, and other civil liberties.  Individuals--including members of the military--were targeted and investigated for any suspicion that they might harbor communist ideas.   Ultimately, Senator Joseph McCarthy's tactics proved to be overbearing and opposed to what America truly stands for.

The context of the anti-communist frenzy, which Sen. McCarthy was inflaming further, was the onset of the Cold War.  The Cold War was the massive tension between capitalist, democratic USA and its allies vs. the communist, totalitarian USSR and its allies.  Senator McCarthy was not the only factor in causing such fear in American society, but he stirred up such fears in excessive ways.  

A good film you might look for on the subject of McCarthy's fear campaign and how it was overcome is the 2005 movie, Good Night and Good Luck.  The film shows the efforts of journalist Edward R. Murrow to battle against McCarthy's excesses and unfounded accusations.  To this day, the broadcasting profession gives out "Edward R. Murrow Awards" in honor of the commitment to truthful media reporting that was exemplified by Murrow.

Answer 2

During the McCarthy era, there was an anticommunist politic.

1938: There were the "House Committee on Un-American Activities", which job was detecting every communist activism and affinity. Also many trials took place against politicians, business man, thought leaders and Hollywood personalities. Especially in the film industry, there were strong suspicions of communist propaganda and influence. These doubts allow the Government to start a "witch hunt", giving the Committe a huge power blaming every suspect for being sovietics agents.

This committee made a "black list" with every accussed of collaboration with the communist cause.

Many people who were accussed or suspect, were left jobless and while they were judged, there was no respect for the individual.

Suspects were left without a fair trial.

The term Mccarthyism was concieved as the excuses governors apply and handle, invoking national security, chasing opponents without respecting their constitutional rights. They hide behind the intentions of protecting the country, setting this vital investigations, to guard democracy, no matter if they sensor those who are not in accordance with their politics.

With this info, you can form your point of view and infer what lessons can be learned from the Mccarthy era, in order to preserve the democratic political system.