Question

"As one of our outstanding historical figures once said, ‘When a great democracy is destroyed, it will not be because of enemies from without but rather because of enemies from within.’" (Paragraph 7) How does this quote reveal McCarthy’s point of view and advance the purpose of his speech?

Answer 1

Explanation:

In this speech, McCarthy wanted to present another perspective to the Americans, who were used to seeing communism as a global external force, which should be controlled through diplomacy and military forces. Therefore, McCarthy's intention in this speech was to present another point of view on the communist threats, which were not only coming from outside agents, but should also pay attention to internal agents. According to him, there were communist agents infiltrated in the government and in American society, and he claimed to have a list with known names that would be evidence of what he said, but that list was never released.

However, with this speech McCarthy managed to stand out in the Cold War period in the 50s, winning the confidence of Americans.