How Did The Republican Party Use
Communism?
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* Joseph
McCarthy was a Republican Senator from
Wisconsin who wanted to revive his
ailing career so adopted a particularly
tough stance on Communism
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* The
Republicans hadn't been in power since
before Roosevelt and so saw the current
political climate as the perfect weapon
to reclaim the presidency from Truman
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* Needed to create an environment of
hysteria - people have a tendency to
vote for the saviour in any given
situation (In this case the Republicans)
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It was
the Republicans who appeared to take the
toughest stance on Communism and
promised to do everything they could to
rid America of the Soviet threat (or at
least direct further attention towards
this threat)
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* McCarthy's
ruthless ambition indicated that he
would be the perfect person to take on
this role
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They could use him as a puppet to ensure
that the party's own reputation remained
intact should things go wrong and the
need arose to disassociate themselves
from him
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* Roosevelt
(Democrat) in his First and Second New
Deal pushed through many so-called
Socialist legislations to help overcome
the Depression
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* As
Socialism borders on Communism, the
Republicans attacked this legislation,
calling for a need to "roll back the New
Deal" and so increase their own
popularity
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* The
McCarthyite hysteria was a perfect way
of ensuring that the rest f the
population also shunned these so-called
Socialists or 'traitors'
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* A fear of
being connected with the Democrats and,
therefore, Socialism and essentially,
Communism would hopefully drive people
towards voting for the most clearly
anti-Communist party - the Republicans
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*
McCarthyism was also used to draw
attention to Truman and the Democrats'
apparently soft stance on Communism both
at home and abroad (they had been forced
into Korea to try and disprove this and
had also come up with the Truman
Doctrine to show that they would aid
other countries incapable of defending
themselves against this threat)
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* This
tactic patently worked as after 1948
the Republicans held the majority of the
seats in both houses of Congress for the
first time since 1928
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* On an
international level, McCarthyism was
employed to suggest to other countries that
America would not stand by idly whilst
other countries were under threat from
Communist forces
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* It also provided justification to the
American population for their actions
when America did take military action
abroad such as in Korea and Vietnam