Jewish Organizations' Response to Communism and to Senator Mccarthy

"In February 1950, Senator Joseph McCarthy launched an anti-communist crusade that lasted for more than four years. His attempts to unmask communists in the American administration and governmental agencies gave rise to actions that infringed on democratic procedure and civil liberties. As the Cold War grew, fear of communism at home and abroad meant that minorities were particularly under threat, as tensions and frustrations were channelled towards the handiest scapegoats." "American Jewish organizations, that were having to come to terms with the Holocaust in Europe, were forced to contend with the real possibility of a serious anti-Semitic outburst at home. The Jewish presence in the American Communist Party was conspicuous; although the overwhelming majority of Jewish Americans did not sympathize with its politics, there was concern that anti-communism would develop into anti-Semitism." "This book sheds new light on McCarthy's attitudes to the Jews, to the Jewish organizations and to the Jewish individuals identified with communism. It also studies the duality in McCarthy's relations with his anti-Semitic supporters on the one hand, and his Jewish supporters on the other. Moreover, in an attempt to uncover anti-Semitic motives in McCartney's activity, the book reaches some interesting conclusions."--BOOK JACKET.

Aviva Weingarten teaches twentieth-century American history at the Open University.