After WWI, there were large numbers of people seeking entry into the United States. During WWI the Russian Revolution occurred, and communism became an important part of politics. Some immigrants from Europe believed in socialism and anarchy. These ideas threatened U.S. capitalism and beliefs about American freedom. Americans reacted in different ways to the events by expressing anti-immigrant nativism, a fear of communism and patriotism to attack these fears. A hatred for immigrants caused nativism to spread throughout the nation. Immigrants who believed in socialism were deported, without trials and some thought, against the ideas of liberty the U.S. stood for (Doc 9). Some immigrants faced accusations that led to jail and even execution …show more content…
The Red Scare was intimidating and shocking and Americans did not want that to spread by nativism to take over the U.S (Doc 1). Bolshevism was thought to drag down civilization in a mess caused by WWI (Doc 7). Bolsheviks were causing negativity in America, caused strikes and negatively influenced the social ideas of Americans (Doc 8). The spread of communism caused Americans to come together and show what kind of nation they really are. Patriotism and nationalism arose to counter other beliefs and immigrant biases. Disbelief in patriotism often resulted in cruel punishments and sometimes even death (Doc 2). Immigrants who migrated to America were expected to disown their native culture and adopt the American lifestyle, those who didn’t couldn’t be considered true Americans (Doc 10). When foreigners first arrived they saw patriotic ideas and symbols to make sure they too would adapt to be a Patriot (Doc 11). Patriotism was a common reaction to the Red Scare. Americans had different reactions to Immigrants and a fear of communism, which has, in some aspects, not changed. American in 2016 is grappling with these same questions. Today Syrian immigrants are feared because of Isis’ ideas. This is the same situation as WWI just a different race and different ideas. These ideas from after the war have stuck throughout about a hundred years to still exist
2. Americans felt threatened by immigrants, and they did not agree with their cultures. This negative mentality towards immigrants caused discrimination. Economics was a one of the major sources of tension. The Irish arrived when labor unions were on strikes to obtain better wages and working conditions.
There was widespread fear that secret communism spies would come in and infiltrate the country without the people knowing. The United States citizens though these spies would destroy the country from the inside out so this fear forced immigration bans to be placed on people coming from communist countries or their allies. Even Senator Joseph McCarthy talks of the threat and fear of internal communism to be a menace in 1950. He wrote, “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 enemies from within.” Every United States citizen was fearful of this happening so they were not hesitant to expose anything that they believed could lead to communism playing into the mass hysteria.
In the late 1940s a lot of change came to people in the U.S. Because of the threat the Soviet Union was putting on them the U.S decided to go in to the Cold war. The first fear Americans had was when Joseph McCarthy began his witch hunt for communists. This made a lot of people scared of becoming an enemy to the nation and losing everything that they have. The "Red Scare" was a mission that the government had to put fear in many Americans.
As stated before, though these both were harsh tragedies that happened in the world; it also brought the United States and other parts of the world together as a whole. Following the 9/11 attacks to support the United States for example many countries came together to show support to the United States and after the 9/11 attacks Americans began protesting and reconvening around the popularized phrase, "United We Stand," this was done so that Americans would keep the worlds hope alive in the midst of a terrible tragedy. The outcome of Red Scare enabled many states to pass the Criminal Syndicalism law that would outlaw acts of violence in securing social change; this law included limitations of free speech. In conclusion the Red Scare of 1919-1920 was set of by a fear of the Bolshevism and anarchism that Americans thought would soon be brought to America; along with the labor movement which then commenced the paranoia of the demarcated period. On the other hand the motives for the 9/11 attacks were stated to be a religious war; this also included reasoning’s as vast as the aggression of Jews in Lebanon against the Muslims, and the Americans holding sanctions against the
During the years of 1919 to 1928 the fear of communism spreading across America after WW1 was a big issue. Lenin 's belief of no economic classes and no private property was slowly starting to intrigue many. This period of fear was know as the Red Scare. President Palmer took action to prevent communism from spreading in America known as the Palmer Raids. The Palmer Raids were the deportation of any alien who was suspected in being a radical or in other words someone who supported communism.
During the Cold war, between Union of Soviet Socialist Republics(USSR) and the United States, fear of communism had increased drastically. Americans feared that communists were working inside their Government and inside their country to change their way of living, This new found fear was called the Red Scare. The Red Scare had spread so quickly people accused their neighbors and friends to be communists. Soon enough even the government was deemed untrustworthy. When someone would verify that they were not communist or inform the Government of suspicious communist activity, they were considered friendly.
After the event of World War I, Americans began to express anti-immigrant views against Eastern and Central Europeans. Americans had feared communism after the overthrowing of the Russian royal family during 1917 and only increased when the Boston Police strike occurred in 1919. This brought up a concern for a potential revolution caused by radicals and communists. Throughout the United States, Anarchists mailed bombs to distinguished Americans, which gave more substance to the Red Scare. Through the people and the government, their actions show how fearful America was towards communism.
Mccarthyism caused americans to turn against each other due to, fear, political reasons, and growing hysteria. Clearly, Mccarthyism stoked fear in americans. One reason for this is because people seeked higher power and would go to extremes just to obtain it. For example, “In 1949 when communists led by Mao Zedong took control of China and the soviets detonated an atomic bomb” (Roberts).
First you need to know that that the United States was scared of communism at the time
This fueled the idea that Democracy is Holy and communism is evil. These views gave the Moral Majority the obligation to rid the world of communism. Militant anti-communism exhibited political fundamentalism in physically rejecting collectivism. By deporting any citizens involved with communism, the members of the New Right promoted the thought of safety for the individual. Militant anti-communism grew out of the fears and paranoia of communism.
Approximately between the years of 1850 and 1920, millions of immigrants traveled to America from all over the world in search of hope, escape from religious persecution, wealth from the gold rush, and to start their life over. This is what gave the United States the nickname, the melting pot, since so many different nationalities had to live within a single country. However, many native born Americans began to feel that the various cultures of these immigrant groups posed a threat to the American lifestyle, developing feelings of hatred towards them. This would directly lead to the rise of nativism and various anti-immigrant acts. However, these two actions were simply excuses and blames that Americans placed upon these unfortunate immigrants
World War I was finally over, however, there was a new threat to Americans. The fear of invasive Communist ideals began to grow rapidly in the United States. Communism is, in Democratic views, a terrible and oppressive way to govern a country. As the United States has always been a democracy, it is easy to understand the great fear of the American people. This widespread terror was known as the Red Scare.
American politics are an ever changing thing, going from things such as Republican to Democrat with a single election, or from being under rule of England to becoming a free nation. A special time in American politics is the time period after WWII. Although there were three major events that had changed American politics, only two events drastically changed them. The first is the known as the “silent majority”, one of the major reasons why Richard Nixon was re-elected. The second is anticommunism in the 1940’s, also known as McCarthyism or the second Red Scare.
After the cold war intensified between the Soviets and Americans, the concern for communism spreading into America grew widespread. The Americans actions cannot be justified because communism was not a serious threat, the Red Scare was merely a concern, and the Domino Theory in Vietnam was not a reliable motivation.
During The Big Red Scare, America was over-reacting to an impartially lucid fear and being unable to subjugate the foreign enemy; Americans unraveled. In order to back up their falsified claims that communists were everywhere, any person who was indifferent to the persecution of said fear was branded as a likely suspect of communism. The fear of radicals increased and led to the fear of being thought radical. However, this national panic was somewhat justified by the minute threat of socialist and labor union strikes as well as several public outbreaks of violence. These issues took many forms including that of a perverted persecution of anything that the dominant white Protestants deemed as un-American.