Cold War and America

The Cold War and America

Textbook:

Keene, J. D., Cornell, S., & ODonnell, E. T. (2017). Visions of America: A history of the United States. Boston: Pearson.

Reading:

Chapter 24: A Divided World: The Early Cold World, pg.1945–1963

Chapter 27: A Decade of Discord: The Challenge of the Sixties

Chapter 29: Building a New World Order: The United States, pg. 1989–2009.

Introduction:

“In 1947, the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) brought the Cold War home in another way.” (History.com, 2019, para. 1). This group started a series of hearings which were to conclude that communist subversion in the United States was present (History.con, 2019). Senator Joseph McCarthy started investigations to see who supported or belonged to the Communist Party in the federal government. These investigations caused many persons (celebrities or not) to be fired from their jobs or ostracized from other organizations. The Red Scare affected the United States Government and our society; however, the Red Scare did subside in the late 1950s (History.com, 2019).

Work Cited for Introduction:

Cold War History. (2019). History.com. Retrieved from https://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/cold-war-history#section_4

Red Scare. (2019). History.com. Retrieved from https://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/red-scare.

Assignment:

How did the Cold War affect the social and political climate in the United States during the 1950s? In particular, how do you explain McCarthyism and the Red Scare? Can you think of any modern parallels to these events, when fear and paranoia threatened basic American liberties? Elaborate.

Please use one reference from textbook and one scholarly reference to obtain full credit.