Most of those accused by McCarthy to have been loyal to the Communist Party had been shortly dismissed from their jobs. Also, McCarthy became very popular as a result of his frequent speeches which were intended to shed more light concerning people favoring communism. The era in which Americans were leading a national anti-communist crusade started to be known as "McCarthyism." In spite of his fame, McCarthy ended up to be one of the most hated U.S. senators.

"McCarthy's support came from people who had been shocked by revelations that former State Department official Alger Hiss was a Soviet spy, by the arrest of Soviet spy Klaus Fuchs, and by communist takeover of China in 1950." (Mccain)

Even if some anti-communists in the U.S. had had extremist beliefs, the whole nation had been devoted to fighting a large proportions war against communism.

The years following WW2 have been a very controversial period in human history. On the one hand, people were glad that the war had ended and that peace now roamed in the world. On the other hand, the U.S. government and the Soviet one had been making preparations for what was to be the Cold War.

Matters seemed to have gone back to normal with men returning to their ordinary jobs where they were normal again. However, not everybody wanted to return to normal, and some people felt obliged to do something in order to help their country in the fight against communism.

In Europe, people were having a hard time returning back to normal, as millions have died, and most people had to start their lives again from scratch. Holocaust survivors had to struggle with the traumas that they've just experienced. Most Americans knew that the waters were still troubled with the Soviet Union wanting to expand its sphere of influence across most of Europe.

The Cold War didn't affect American citizens, nor did it affect Soviet ones, as it was mostly a war of threats and words between the two countries. Both countries had had the power of performing nuclear warfare, and both feared that one would use the respective military power for unorthodox purposes. Generally speaking, the Americans wanted to control the Soviets, and the Soviets wanted to control the U.S.

The U.S. was seen as a savior and a do-gooder while the Soviet Union had been considered to be evil for the fact that it spread its communist ideology around the globe. The Cold War itself was considered to be an ideology and an example of good fighting evil. Churchill was one of the people that made the Cold War possible, as he held a speech in the U.S. stating that the Soviet Union posed a threat to the world. From there on, both the Soviets and the Americans had to attempt and reach an agreement concerning the division of Europe.

The Marshall plan came as proof that the U.S. had good intentions in what regarded the future of Europe. The Cold War had been seen by those favoring the western powers as a political fight between good and bad. By 1950 America's mission was to fight communism on all levels. Communism had been pictured around the U.S. As a disease spreading across the world and poisoning the minds of those that encountered it.

Anticommunists were becoming fanatical, by taking advantage of everything in order to show the world the danger that the Soviet Union posed. Just as Hitler described his plans in Mein Kampf, the Soviet leaders were believed to have referred to the conquering of the world with the help of communism. Soviet Russia was now compared to Nazi Germany,...

The fact that the Allies have won the war made it possible for people to consider that they've won a war against racism, and, against the concept that there existed a race which was not equal to the others. The U.S. had had experience in the matter, as they've fought the Civil War, which was also a fight against the enemies of freedom.
After having played the major role in winning the war, the U.S. had now become the biggest power in the world, with people everywhere seeing it as a liberator. Moreover, the U.S. was considered to be a country in which differences did not exist.

The years that followed after the war had been a hallmark of free-thinking and of endless possibilities. Even several prominent people were performing revolutionary acts which in their turn influenced simple people everywhere.

One of the most representative events following WW2 is the emergence of the Cold War and the actions that it involved. Most Americans did not expect their country to continue to engage in external problems and they considered that their job as saviors had finished with the ending of WW2. However, U.S. citizens felt more confident in their powers after they've proved their supremacy as a nuclear power.

As the Soviet Union became a potential threat to the world, Americans thought that they had been required to take actions once again. Communism started to be a national problem, with the majority of Americans wanting to help in ending communism. The Cold War was among the first controversial wars led by the U.S. with some people believing that the U.S. government had had a choice when they've decided to enter the war. The decision of entering the war had been mainly fueled by the fact that Stalin had kept its influence in eastern-Europe by strategically placing communist leaders in the Soviet satellite countries.

On the whole, the period following the war has been one filled with optimism and unity, as people learnt that they're all equal and that differences should no longer exist. The Cold War has been a symbolic war, as it never actually took place like a real war.

In spite of people being slightly happier after the ending of the war, matters in the east had been very different from those in the west. People from communist countries could not enjoy all the advantages of being free, as laws in the respective time had been extremely strict.

Works cited:

1. Jeremy Black, "World War Two," Routledge, 2003.

2. Jeff Broadwater, "Eisenhower & the Anti-Communist Crusade," University of North Carolina Press, 1992

3. Robert Stacy Mccain, "Authors Take Another Look at McCarthy's Role in History," the Washington Times, February 9, 2000

4. "The Cold War Begins," (2001), Retrieved March 28, 2009, from Macrohistory Web site: http://www.fsmitha.com/h2/ch24cld.html

5. "1950: McCarthy launches anti-red crusade," Retrieved from BBC Web site: http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/9/newsid_3703000/3703305.stm

Jeremy Black, "World War Two," Routledge, 2003.

"The Cold War Begins," (2001), Retrieved March 28, 2009, from Macrohistory Web site: http://www.fsmitha.com/h2/ch24cld.html

"The Cold War Begins," (2001), Retrieved March 28, 2009, from Macrohistory Web site: http://www.fsmitha.com/h2/ch24cld.html

Jeff Broadwater, "Eisenhower & the Anti-Communist Crusade," University of North Carolina Press, 1992

"1950: McCarthy launches anti-red crusade," Retrieved from BBC Web site: http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/9/newsid_3703000/3703305.stm

Robert Stacy Mccain, "Authors Take Another Look at McCarthy's Role in History," the Washington Times, February 9, 2000.