McCarthyism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

McCarthyism - Essay Example The McCarthyism movements had greatly affected the lives of the people in the U.S. Tens of thousands of Americans were charged of being Communist or communist sympathizers during McCarthy epoch. They had to undergo aggressive investigations and questioning before the government and private-industry boards, committees, and bureaus. Besides, in the realm of social policy, McCarthyism seems to have stopped the much-needed reforms at midstream. Measures including national health insurance, a social reform held up by rest of the industrialized world, just fell by the pavement. There were chances that left liberal political alliance would have implemented health reforms and similar proposals; but the sanguinity was torn apart by the crusades of anti-communist movements. The moderates were against anything that seemed radical and the people who were left to them were always either to no avail or under exploitation. The McCarthyism movements again had put into the attenuation of the reformation impulse by diverting public attention of the labor movement. In fact, McCarthyism not only affected the lives and political thinking of the people in the U.S. but also had impact on the international affairs. The antagonism against the cold war had been so thoroughly identified with communism. The nation’s cultural and social life was also suffered by the McCarthyism. Moreover, even after the anti-Communist uproar s was retreated, the antidemocratic associated with the earlier still continued to affect the citizens. It can be traced from the COINELPRO programs of prosecuting political rebels throughout 1960s and, the Watergate related misdemeanors in the 1970s and the Iran-Contra issues in the 1980s (Schrecker 2002, p.106,) . McCarthyism was not the only cause for these outrages. The assault on democracy that started during the 1940s and its