What is McCarthyism? And how did it happen? - Ellen Schrecker

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In the 1950s, as part of a campaign to expose suspected Communists, thousands of individuals were aggressively investigated and questioned before government panels. Named after its most notorious practitioner, the phenomenon known as McCarthyism destroyed lives and careers. But how did this episode of political repression take off? Ellen Schrecker traces the history of McCarthyism.

Lesson by Ellen Schrecker, animation by Patrick Smith.

Imagine that one day,
you're summoned before a government panel.

Even though you haven't
committed any crime,

or been formally charged with one,

you are repeatedly questioned
about your political views,

accused of disloyalty,

and asked to incriminate your friends
and associates.

If you don't cooperate,
you risk jail or losing your job.

This is exactly what happened in
the United States in the 1950s

as part of a campaign to expose
suspected communists.

Named after its most
notorious practitioner,

the phenomenon known as McCarthyism
destroyed thousands of lives and careers.

For over a decade, American political
leaders trampled democratic freedoms

in the name of protecting them.

During the 1930s and 1940s,

there had been an active but small
communist party in the United States.

Its record was mixed.

While it played crucial roles in wider
progressive struggles

for labor and civil rights,

it also supported the Soviet Union.

From the start, the American
Communist Party faced attacks

from conservatives and business leaders,

as well as from liberals who criticized
its ties to the oppressive Soviet regime.

During World War II, when the USA
and USSR were allied against Hitler,

some American communists actually
spied for the Russians.

When the Cold War escalated
and this espionage became known,

domestic communism came to be seen
as a threat to national security.

But the attempt to eliminate that threat

soon turned into the longest lasting
and most widespread episode

of political repression
in American history.

Spurred on by a network of bureaucrats,

politicians,

journalists,

and businessmen,

the campaign wildly exaggerated
the danger of communist subversion.

The people behind it harassed anyone

suspected of holding
left-of-center political views

or associating with those who did.

If you hung modern art on your walls,

had a multiracial social circle,

or signed petitions against
nuclear weapons,

you might just have been a communist.

Starting in the late 1940s,

FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover

used the resources of his agency
to hunt down such supposed communists

and eliminate them from any
position of influence

within American society.

And the narrow criteria that Hoover
and his allies used

to screen federal employees

spread to the rest of the country.

Soon, Hollywood studios,

universities,

car manufacturers,

and thousands of other public
and private employers

were imposing the same political tests
on the men and women who worked for them.

Meanwhile, Congress conducted
its own witchhunt

subpoenaing hundreds of people
to testify before investigative bodies

like the House Un-American
Activities Committee.

If they refused to cooperate,
they could be jailed for contempt,

or more commonly, fired and blacklisted.

Ambitious politicians, like Richard Nixon

and Joseph McCarthy,

used such hearings as a partisan weapon

accusing democrats
of being soft on communism

and deliberately losing China
to the Communist Bloc.

McCarthy, a Republican senator
from Wisconsin

became notorious by flaunting
ever-changing lists of alleged communists

within the State Department.

Egged on by other politicians,

he continued to make
outrageous accusations

while distorting or fabricating evidence.

Many citizens reviled McCarthy
while others praised him.

And when the Korean War broke out,
McCarthy seemed vindicated.

Once he became chair

of the Senate's permanent subcommittee
on investigations in 1953,

McCarthy recklessness increased.

It was his investigation of the army that
finally turned public opinion against him

and diminished his power.

McCarthy's colleagues
in the Senate censured him

and he died less than three years later,
probably from alcoholism.

McCarthyism ended as well.

It had ruined hundreds,
if not thousands, of lives

and drastically narrowed the American
political spectrum.

Its damage to democratic institutions
would be long lasting.

In all likelihood, there were both
Democrats and Republicans

who knew that the anti-communist
purges were deeply unjust

but feared that directly opposing them
would hurt their careers.

Even the Supreme Court failed
to stop the witchhunt,

condoning serious violations
of constitutional rights

in the name of national security.

Was domestic communism an actual
threat to the American government?

Perhaps, though a small one.

But the reaction to it was so extreme
that it caused far more damage

than the threat itself.

And if new demagogues appeared
in uncertain times

to attack unpopular minorities
in the name of patriotism,

could it all happen again?