1. As historians often argue that the cold war was a war of ideas is reflected several times in McCarthy’s writing. For example, the cold war was a war of ideas of Marxism, as shown in the line, “The great difference between our western Christian world and the atheistic Communist world…” and also in “the Marxian idea of confiscating the land and factories and running the entire economy as a single enterprise” (McCarthy). There is another idea of religion demonstrated in his speech. He said that “the religion of immoralism will more deeply wound and damage mankind than any conceivable economic or political system” (McCarthy). Historians view the cold war as a war of ideas, as brought up in McCarthy’s speech.
2. In McCarthy’s writing, paranoia is numerously played, as in his speech, he said,” the world is split into two vast, increasingly hostile armed camps” (McCarthy). From this statement, it is evident that he implied that to the entire world, every country has a side picked. When he said, “The mad moment has not yet arrived for the firing of the gun or the exploding of the bomb which will set civilization about the final task of destroying itself” (McCarthy), he was invoking the paranoia of Americans, implying that war was inevitable. There is a time when Russia and United States will be at war.
3. Since McCarthy and others believed that destruction was beginning, the idea of communists being in the department of state was, therefore, a concern for them. They knew that the communist could gather confidential information as they were in the states hence taking down the government. This is evident in his speech where he said, “…“the reason we find ourselves in impotence…. Because of the traitorous actions of those who have been treated so well by this Nation.… “it is those who have had all the benefits that the wealthiest nation on earth has had to offer… the finest homes, the finest college education, and the finest jobs in government we can give” (McCarthy). Thus, they believed that loyalty for Americans and workers depended on their political ideology as it was linked directly to their religious beliefs. Anyone who favored communism was regarded as an atheist.
“Enemies from Within”: Senator Joseph R. McCarthy’s Accusations of Disloyalty [Internet]. Gmu.edu. 2019. Available from: https://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6456
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