The Red Scare and especially McCarthyism

Résumé du document

The following analysis covers three cinematographic sources which are Good Night, and Good Luck, the Invasion of the Body Snatchers and an episode of Cold Case called the "Red Glare". First, Good Night, and Good Luck is about how Edward R. Murrow, the CBS announcer of the time, and F. Friendly, a producer, helped to denounce McCarthyism. The Invasion of the Body Snatchers is what was called a B-movie, which represented an allegory of McCarthyism through a story that takes place in a small town of America, about a doctor named Dr Benell who discovers that extraterrestrial beings with no emotions are taking possession of his fellow citizens during the night. Finally, the episode of Cold Case is about a murder that happened in 1953, during the period of the witch hunt. We look more into these works in this document.

Extraits

[...] Even before McCarthy's speech in Senate, the government, within the framework of the Red Scare, had already taken measures against communism. By the end of the 1930s, many lawmakers asked for something to investigate communism and to curb it. Therefore the House Un-American Activities Committee was created in 1938. It worked in association with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and it was one of the main institutional centres of McCarthyism as explained in the Age of McCarthyism, a Brief History with Documents. [...]

[...] That period was named the witch hunt and it was justified. McCarthy used the context of the Red Scare to develop and make public his ideas and the movement was followed by the whole country, as the government, Congress and also the population rather agreed his actions. However, his path was punctuated by excess and abuses as some people suffered. The victims could be people deported, people losing their jobs and even people sentenced. But, by pushing his ideas too far, McCarthy revealed how dangerous and excessive he was and it led to his end especially marked by the censure motion voted against him. [...]

[...] The fact that a film was based on an allegory of McCarthyism proves that it was a mass movement. Indeed, people were supporting him. We can see that fact through a scene in the episode of Cold Case when, for example at about the 36th minute, the population saw the announcement of the death of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg of 1953 as a relief. We can link that with an opinion poll which pointed out his popularity: in January of Americans were in favour of his action. [...]

[...] But it would also lead to his end, as we will see in the third part of this work. The execution of the Rosenbergs was also announced on television as we can see in the episode of Cold Case at the 36th minute when some people are gathered in front of a TV sets shop. The announcer says atom spies are finally and officially dead”. This added to the joy they feel when the news come show how important it was for the public. Television was not the only media involved in McCarty's witch-hunt. [...]

[...] However McCarthyism eventually came to an end and for several reasons, due to his own personality and the fact that he pushed his actions too far and became too extremist. Therefore, there were many victims of that period especially because of the abuses concerning the accusations or the investigations. First, some people saw their liberties scorned or ignored. We can find an example of that in Good Night and Good Luck, when a lieutenant of the army is fired because it was discovered that his father read a Serb newspaper. [...]