The relationship between the Soviet Socialist Republics and the United States
As much as the United States was allied with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in the conclusion of the Second World war, the friendship between the two countries cracked immediately after the war. The president of the United States at that time, Harry Truman, and the leader of the Soviet, Joseph Stalin, raised insecurity concerns that they got misunderstood by the citizens of each other’s country. It quickly flourished into a conviction and suspicion of each other’s nation planning to destroy the other. The enmity blossomed to a formation of anti-communist and anti-Soviet movements. A mediocre Wisconsin senator, Joseph McCarthy, formed a public platform based on the anti-communist tension in 1950, and it reigned till 1964. In this study, I intend to discuss the nature of McCarthy’s argument on the issue of the communist threat, the drastic change in the relationship of the Soviet Union and the United States of America, and the causes of the Red scare with relation to McCarthyism influence.
The relationship between the USSR and the US deteriorated due to the belief of the Americans that they had treated the Soviets with honor. They had, for instance, held back their military troops frim invading Berlin due to am agreement they had made for the Soviets to be in control of that city. What the Americans got in return was a treacherous treatment by the Russians. The Soviets had made a promise of free and fair elections in the territories within Eastern Europe that were occupied by the Russians. But instead, they manipulated and installed Communist regimes in those territories. Ideological differences cropped between the two allies. The United States was for the capitalist idea, whereby, the economy of a country is not controlled by the state. The governmental positions were to be elected through democracy, and the freedom of speech was to be practiced. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republic was for the communist ideology. Unlike in capitalism, Communist states were to be centrally controlled. The financial and societal controls were under Communist Political Party-led governments. This incompatibility created quite the rife for the nations.
The Red Scare blossomed from the hysterics about a threat by Communists living the United States during the era of the Cold War between the USSR and the US, which became intense between the late 1940s and the beginning of the 1950s. The term came from the fact that the communists were known as “Reds” due to their pledged loyalty to the red Soviet flag. The bitterness between the two countries brought forth concerns and insecurities in America that communists and sympathizers of the leftists who loved in the United States would work as spies for the Soviets and jeopardize security in the US. It was around this time that Joseph McCarthy created his anti-communist crusade. He used intimidation to root himself as a feared and influential figure in the politics of the United States.
Joseph McCarthy accused several government officials of being communists or working as Soviet Intelligence agents. He was opposed bitterly by the Senate and highly ranked government officials working under both Eisenhower and Truman’s offices, and by the preponderance from press corps. Eventually, he was censured by the Senate in 1954. He was demonized for intimidation, victimization, and propelling the fire of the anti-communist tension. He is said to have bullied defendants in cross-examination by the use of criminal accusations and defamation of their reputations. A disparaging terminology, “McCarthyism,” was created by his critics to represent the act of pointing allegations of betrayal, especially concerning pro-communist activity, mostly by unsupported proof or on the grounds of mere suspicion.