Red Scare Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Red cloy - Essay ExampleIt ability be said that from the establishments point of view the roots of the Red Scare lie in the incitive actions of foreign and leftist elements in the United States, so it decided to suppress dissent and help bear on pro-war opinion in the preparation for the American entry into World War.At the heart of the Red Scare was the conscription law of 1917, which was set apart in place during World War I for the armed forces to be able to conscript more Americans. This law ca utilise many problems for the conscientious objector to WWI, because for integrity to claim that status, one had to be a member of a well-recognized religious organization which forbade their members to participation in war. As a go forth of such legislation, 20,000 conscientious objectors were inducted into the armed forces (Feuerlicht 74). after(prenominal) the real war ended in 1918, the ideological war turned against conscientious objectors and other radical minorities such a s Wobblies, who were members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), and Socialists as well. These Wobblies and Socialists were damned as being subversives who were trying to overthrow the United States government. Wobblies, in particular, were persecuted against for speaking out against the capitalistic system. Although most of what they said was only to attract attention to their cause, their rhetoric was taken seriously by the government and its officials. From the very beginning of the Red Scare, the Wobblies were the subject of attack by the government, because they were a symbol of radicalism. The government put in place legislation, not only against the Wobblies, but also against Socialists and Communists, due to the fact that the government did not distinguish one of its enemies from another. One such action taken by the government prevented Wobblies who were not up to now citizens from naturalization, even if they quit their organization. In 1917, the US government m ade a law (Espionage Act) which gave the Secretary of ride the power to arrest or deport any alien advocating or teaching destruction of proportion or the overthrow of government by force. Words such as advocating and the vague language used in the law allowed the government to use deportation as a cure for the anti-government views of its enemies, namely the Wobblies, Communists, and Socialists. After the war formally ended in 1918, all the groups which opposed the war came under fire. They were seen as cataclysmic to the peace and security of the American nation. The focus of the attacks was no longer on the conscientious objectors, for many of them were already jailed during the war, and were still in jail at the time it had switched over to the Socialists and the Wobblies (Renshaw 63-65 Zinn 108). In 1917, President Wilson found a Committee on Public Information to create and release news favorable to the consort cause and hostile to Germany. To enforce the efforts of the C ommittee, the Bureau of Investigation was created and disrupted the work of German-American, union, and leftist organizations through raids, arrests, and good prosecution. The Socialist Party of America strongly opposed the war on pacifist grounds and the result was persecution and punishment under the provisions of the Espionage Act (Murray 18). This act penalized anyone who obstructed the operation of the armed forces, was insubordinate, or displayed disloyalty