America's Most Publicly Feared Senator: Joseph R. McCarthy and His Times

Bc. Kateřina Pavlíčková

Bachelor's thesis

Abstract:

Joseph McCarthy turned out to be the most visible figure of the 1950s in American political history. McCarthyism, the term which first emerged in 1950, came into the nation’s history at a moment when Americans were uncertain about their future in the changing world. McCarthy came in just at a time when the “good” Russians and Chinese of the Second World War were suddenly America’s feared enemies and when one of them [the Soviet Union] suddenly possessed the atomic bomb, partly as a result of espionage against the United States. The Cold War and the resulting nuclear arms race made the average American seek reassurances for his safety. This desperate need resulted in paranoid feelings which any cunning politician could exploit for his political benefit.

Keywords

Joseph R. McCarthy, McCarthyism, First Red Scare, Palmer Raids, CPUSA, Sacco and Vanzetti, Second Red Scare, HUAC, Alger Hiss, Manhattan project, the Rosenbergs, Klaus Fuchs, Television in the 1950s

Jazyk práce: English

Datum vytvoření / odevzdání či podání práce: 27. 5. 2008

Obhajoba závěrečné práce

• Obhajoba proběhla 4. 6. 2008
• Vedúci: M.A. Kenneth Alfred Froehling

Masaryk University

Faculty of Arts

Bachelor programme / odbor:
Philology / English Language and Literature