Module overview
‘I have here in my hand a list of 205 names that were made known to the Secretary of State as being members of Communist Party and who nevertheless are still working and shaping policy in that State Department.'
With these words, asserting both the existence of an internal communist menace and the government failure to act against it, Senator Joseph McCarthy thrust himself into the centre of US national politics. His inquisition into communist subversives and spies lasted from 1950 to 1954. But ‘McCarthyism' as a phenomenon was more deeply-rooted, more enduring and much broader in scope than the career and campaigns of a single politician. This module explores the causes, course and effects of McCarthyism writ large, from the end of the Second World War through to the late 1950s.
Aims and Objectives
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge and Understanding
Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:
- the key historical forces that produced McCarthyism
- the historiographical controversies surrounding McCarthyism
Transferable and Generic Skills
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- write fluently and effectively, preparing assessed work independently
- formulate arguments that are clearly reasoned and based on evidence
- manage your own learning and your time effectively, meeting deadlines
- find, assimilate and analyse diverse and complex information
Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- identify the key characteristics of McCarthyism
- describe and assess the various approaches taken by scholars in the study of McCarthyism, and classify the sort of source materials used in those approaches
Syllabus
Introduction
Biography: McCarthy the man
Communist espionage and subversion in the early Cold War: debating the threat
McCarthyism as ideological warfare: the contest over the New Deal
McCarthyism in Congress: from HUAC and McCarranism to McCarthy’s censure
McCarthyism and the executive branch: Truman, Eisenhower and J. Edgar Hoover
Anticommunism in the city, state and region
Black lists and red scares: popular culture, media and the arts in 1950s America
Reds in the bed: gender, sexual repression and domestic life in 1950s America
An American ‘paranoid style’? Conservative populist politics in the United States from the Revolution to the modern ‘Alt-Right’
Learning and Teaching
Teaching and learning methods
Teaching methods include
- lectures
- seminars
You will be expected to discuss the issues raised by the lectures and your own reading, and to analyse primary and secondary materials in small and large groups. We will supply you with lists of seminar topics, essay questions and relevant books, articles and sources.
Learning activities include
- intensive reading, guided by annotated reading lists, by the lectures, and by active participation in seminars.
| Type | Hours |
|---|---|
| Wider reading or practice | 18 |
| Preparation for scheduled sessions | 48 |
| Seminar | 12 |
| Lecture | 12 |
| Assessment tasks | 60 |
| Total study time | 150 |
Resources & Reading list
Textbooks
Richard Hofstadter. The Paranoid Style in American Politics and Other Essays.
Athan Theoharis. Chasing Spies: How the FBI Failed in Counter-Intelligence but Promoted the Politics of McCarthyism in the Cold War Years.
Ellen Schrecker. Many are the Crimes: McCarthyism in America.
Ted Morgan. Reds: McCarthyism in Twentieth Century America.
David Caute. The Great Fear: the Anti-Communist Purge under Truman and Eisenhower.
Ellen Schrecker. The Age of McCarthyism.
M J Heale. McCarthy’s Americans: Red Scare Politics in State and Nation, 1935-1965.
Assessment
Assessment strategy
Assessments designed to provide informal, on-module feedback
- You will be given informal feedback on your oral contributions and essay planning during the course of the module
- In this option module you will be assessed informally on oral and group skills; communication skills form an important part of your learning and will be developed through interactive teaching and learning activities.
Summative
This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.
| Method | Percentage contribution |
|---|---|
| Written assignment | 40% |
| Essay | 60% |
Referral
This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.
| Method | Percentage contribution |
|---|---|
| Written assignment | 40% |
| Essay | 60% |
Repeat
An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.
| Method | Percentage contribution |
|---|---|
| Written assignment | 40% |
| Essay | 60% |
Repeat Information
Repeat type: Internal & External