StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

The Cold War: The Soviet Union Explodes an Atomic Bomb and The Second Red Scare - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
The author of "The Cold War: The Soviet Union Explodes an Atomic Bomb and The Second Red Scare" paper tells how the Soviet Union had effectively launched its first atomic bomb, thus ending America's monopoly of atomic weaponry and this event started the Cold War. …
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER98.8% of users find it useful
The Cold War: The Soviet Union Explodes an Atomic Bomb and The Second Red Scare
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "The Cold War: The Soviet Union Explodes an Atomic Bomb and The Second Red Scare"

The Cold War The Soviet Union Explodes an Atomic Bomb In 1945, the United s’ atomic bomb, d “Trinity”, was first tested at Alamogordo in New Mexico. The creation of the US atomic bomb had two purposes: (1) to force Japan to surrender and immediately end World War II and (2) to monopolize atomic weaponry worldwide, particularly against the USSR, that would enable the US to control the power of foreign policy (“The Cold War”).On March 12, 1947, in a speech delivered by President Harry Truman in a Congressional session, he committed America to provide full assistance to the populace in jeopardy of Soviet expansionism and Communist aggression, and to protect any democratic country’s political honor (Holmes & Carafano).

Truman’s policy, also called the “containment doctrine,” was intended to suppress and control the spread of Communism worldwide. The containment promptly became the executive U.S. policy towards the USSR (“The Cold War”). Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, under the Espionage Act, were found guilty of conspiracy to commit espionage for the Soviet Union from 1944 to 1950. The Rosenbergs had been fundamentally involved in a Communist undercover agent circle that leaked US national defense secrets, particularly blueprints of high-explosive lens patterns and the US atomic bomb Trinity design, to the Soviet Union (Parrish).

Truman’s war on communism ignited an anti-communist panic that led to espionage trials, an aggressive communist manhunt, and escalated aggression as the American government questioned, deported, and investigated citizens suspected of being communists (“The Second Red Scare: Fear and Loathing in High Places, 1947-1954”). Truman’s proposal that the country exercises military force to contain the global communist conspiracy started a chain of armed conflicts and deadly arms races between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. (“Cold War”).

The anti-communist hysteria precipitated the U.S. involvement in the Korean War (Sandler). The Second Red Scare (McCarthy and The Spies in the US)The Second Red Scare occurred after World War II. Hostility mounted as the US government ordered the arrest, deportation, and investigation of citizens suspected of being spies. Under President Truman’s administration, anyone suspected of membership in the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA) was guilty of treason. Suspects were forced out of employment.

People from the movie industry, as well as those in the news and entertainment media, were subpoenaed by the US Congress’s House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). Soon after, the media began its Communist manhunt. Every assembly gathered and published the names of media people believed to be un-American in their political principles. There was an air of panic and distrust everywhere (“The Second Red Scare: Fear and loathing in High Places, 1947-1954”). The fifties era was enveloped with concern over treachery and the "Communist menace.

" In the middle of this menace was the Senator from Wisconsin, Joseph McCarthy. McCarthy served his first term as an infamous backbench partisan (Unger). To guarantee his political victory in the upcoming election, he took advantage of the country’s panic against Communism. In his most famous speech on February 9, 1950, he made his impact by naming 205 people in the State Department who were allegedly recognized affiliates of the American Communist Party (Oh & Latham). This caused national alarm and called for immediate investigations of the subversive activists.

Senator Joseph McCarthy pointed a finger at numerous innocent civilians who are in any way connected with communism based on circumstantial evidence. Accusations were not supported by real evidence other than deliberate allegations. Mccarthy's witch hunt caused widespread job losses following the government’s suspicion of more than ten thousand alleged subversives who were quickly fired and disintegrated from society (Schrecker).McCarthy became the chairman of the Government Committee on Operations of the Senate, all the more extending his power to examine the nonconformists.

For two years, he persistently questioned several government departments, the media people, the clergy, and other prominent sections of the US society. The national terror stemming from the witch-hunts and communist threats became branded McCarthyism (Oh & Latham). This panic made the headlines and made McCarthy an instant sensation and a heroic defender of true Americanism. In 1952, McCarthy won reelection and together with fellow fanatical anti-Communists, turned the rest of the fifties into a decade of fright and oppression (Unger).

McCarthyism became a cursed subject to hush people from talking about the Communist infiltration and espionage of the American existence (“McCarthyism, Red Scare, and Domestic Subversion”). During the age of McCarthyism, because political actions could attract attention, the more sensible folks eluded them. The average Americans converted themselves into social conformists, much to the dismay of the scholars. University people were divided into two classes: a repressed group of students and a team of self-suppressed professors fearful of teaching what might be wrongly interpreted as Un-American.

“The Black Silence of Fear” apparently covered the land, and momentous political opposition became stronger. Noticeably the congressional investigations, allegiance plans, and blacklists influenced the life of every American (Schrecker) 

Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“The cold war Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words”, n.d.)
The cold war Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words. Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/history/1618204-the-cold-war
(The Cold War Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 Words)
The Cold War Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 Words. https://studentshare.org/history/1618204-the-cold-war.
“The Cold War Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 Words”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/history/1618204-the-cold-war.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF The Cold War: The Soviet Union Explodes an Atomic Bomb and The Second Red Scare

The First and Second Red Scare

The paper "The First and second red scare" highlights that though the majority of the accusations were true, some people also became false victims of strong campaigners of anti-communism especially McCarty operating under his famous McCarthyism.... According to Murray (1971), the red scare can be described as a nationwide anti-radical hysterical which was triggered by increasing anxiety and fear that the Bolshevik revolution was going to occur in America.... It also came as a result of the strong patriotic years of the First World war in which social agitation and left-wing political violence worsened the national political and social tensions....
6 Pages (1500 words) Research Paper

The Second Red Scare

The term Red Scare stands for two different eras of strong Anti-Communism in the United States, namely the First Red Scare (1919 to 1921), and the second red scare (1947 to 1957).... The paper "the second red scare" discusses that the attack on American democracy that started during the 1940s and 1950s with the alliance of private institutions and public agencies in restraining the alleged menace of domestic communism was a significant early involvement.... the second red scare occurred after World War II....
6 Pages (1500 words) Essay

The Causes of World War III

According to Wright Mills, the explosion of the soviet union bomb is a likely indication that World War III may take place.... He also thinks that the power elites of the soviet union and the United states back in the 1950s were thrusting relentlessly and mindlessly drifting towards war.... The third world war is a hypothetical conflict denoting the successor to the second World War.... The third world war is a hypothetical conflict denoting the successor to the second World War....
5 Pages (1250 words) Essay

The Manhattan Project Based on the Factors of Time, Cost and the Achievement of an Object

The project was a military-funded research project responsible for the creation of an atomic bomb.... the second stage was plutonium enrichment which was to be used as substitute for uranium 235.... Second phase was the structure and design of the bomb while third phase was the testing of the atomic bomb.... The final stage of bomb designed using plutonium and uranium.... The first bomb was tested in the year 1594....
12 Pages (3000 words) Essay

The Nuclear Arms race between the United States and Soviet Union during Cold war

It should be noted that, initially, the United States was the only state that possessed atomic bombs, but this changed in 1949 when the Soviet Union exploded an atomic bomb thus Both states continued to build bigger and more bombs.... This prompted the soviet union in 1953 to follow with its version (Watts 38).... he key features of the Cold War were ideological rivalry where the United States sought to spread capitalism around the world while the soviet union sought to spread communism....
7 Pages (1750 words) Term Paper

The reation and Incidence of Nuclear Weapons

The nuclear weapons have been developed to deter the soviet union from inaugurating military aggression, similar to that which had been practiced by Hitler, despite the party having no interest in doing such a thing.... This includes the fact that after the second world war, a lot of research has been placed towards their development and production....
5 Pages (1250 words) Essay

Using of Nuclear Weapons in Hiroshima and Nagasaki on the Second World War

This paper ''Using of Nuclear Weapons in Hiroshima and Nagasaki on the second World War'' tells us that the validities of war have been observably constrained due to the weapons used as well as the objectives of warfare sought.... o critically describe the reasons, lead to experience both Hiroshima and Nagasaki to face destructive situations by the nuclear attacks during the end of the second World War ... Periodic historical observations have consequently set out clear reflections regarding the most controversial and consequential war decisions taken in modern warfare, indicative of the use of atomic nuclear weapons on the two major Japanese cities - Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the year 1945....
41 Pages (10250 words) Essay

The Discovery of the Atomic Bomb

This raised a competition to see who could use the idea to create an atomic bomb.... the second story is about the Soviets trying to steal the bomb from Americans through informants and spies.... The laboratory that was to be used in creating the bomb and testing radioactive elements was located at Los Alamos.... The author of the book, Sheinkin, uses the lives of saboteurs, scientists, and spies to give the story of the creation of the atomic bomb....
5 Pages (1250 words) Book Report/Review
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us