West Coast American Leadership Academy

Political Science 5 – Western Political Thought

Spring 2016 / Fall 2016 – Power Point 6

1. The Red Scares (1 Through 3)

2. Mitchell Palmer’s “The Case Against TheReds”

3. William Allen White’s “The Red Scare Is Un-American”

4. Senator Joseph McCarthy’s Accusations ofDisloyalty – Speech”

5. Information Flows Top Down

6. Messages And Manipulation

7. Mirror Myth

Course Lecture Topics

First Red Scare (1)

• The first “Red Scare” takes place after the labor strikes and

race riots of 1919. In 1917 the Bolshevik Revolution in

Russia inspired leftists who believed that a “world”

revolution would be possible.

• Formation of the Third International (later dissolved by Stalin

during WWII). In fact, as a result of the success of the

Bolsheviks, some American radicals moved away from the

Socialist Party and became active in the American

Communist Party.

First Red Scare (2)

• In 1919, the post office intercepted 40 bombs, and a bomb

exploded in front of the house of Attorney-General A.

Mitchell Palmer.

• This was the beginning of a series of “witch hunts” by the

government against radicals and aliens. Raids were

conducted and many people were deported. In 1920, a

police sweep took 5000 suspects into custody, many without

arrest warrants..Dampened Progressive reforms which grew

out of the grassroots reform movements of the 19th century.

Mitchell Palmer’s “The Case

Against The Reds” (1)• Notice the first phrase (“Like a prairie fire…”) is meant to

underscore the spreading danger that the radicals posed.

This phrase, ironically, was later used in the 1960s to

promote the revolutionary causes of the radicals of the New

Left.

• Rhetoric of Demagogues: {Discourse Analysis}No doubt,

Palmer’s argument is based on the rhetoric of pathos, the

use a language of fear and patriotic emotion.

Mitchell Palmer’s “The Case

Against The Reds” (2)• To the public, the “Reds” are the enemy, whether anarchist,

socialists or communist, and Palmer makes no distinction

among the various radical political philosophies. In fact,

Palmer equates the politics of the left with criminal activity,

“the degenerate factor in society.”

• He establishes his own “facts”: (“the Reds are criminal

aliens”) and by the government fighting the Reds, the

government is fighting crime (“there could be no nice

distinctions drawn between the theoretical ideas of the

radicals and their actual violations of our national laws”).

Mitchell Palmer’s “The Case

Against The Reds” (3)

• Notice the choice of words (connotative meanings) and

characterizations he makes: (“clique of outcasts”);

(“organization of thousands of aliens”); (“promises of

lawlessness, of criminal autocracy to Americans”); (“purpose

of communism appears to be a mass formation of the

criminals of the world to overthrow the decencies of private

life”).

• Palmer groups all the radicals together including individuals

he calls “moral perverts” and “hysterical neurasthenic

women.”

William Allen White’s “The Red

Scare Is Un-American”• A liberal response of a progressive reformer attacking

Palmer’s position.

• There is a Constitution and there are certain rights that

permit debate, expression of unpopular ideas, and the

right to politically dissent.

Second Red Scare

• The second Red Scare took place after the Second World

War as the Cold War began. America had an enemy: the

Soviet Communists.

• By the end of the 1940s, “loyalty oaths” were becoming

common for people who worked in the government.

• Hysteria arose about the possible presence of spies

working within the U.S. In some cases people’s

reputations and careers were ruined when they were

accused of belonging to or sympathizing with the

Communist Party.

Third Red Scare

• During the 1950s, Senator Joseph McCarthy began a one-

man crusade to root out the “Commies.”

• Senator McCarthy used “name-calling” and “smear tactics”

to attack people who disagreed with him, claiming they

were unpatriotic or worse, agents of foreign governments.

• “McCarthyism” is the term we still use to describe this type

of political attack. We also refer to such political

campaigns to investigate adversaries as “witch-hunts."

• Reading this speech accusing individuals of un-American

activities, one becomes aware of the same use of the

rhetoric of pathos that was apparent in Palmer’s 1920

statement about the aliens in our midst.

• The appeal of McCarthy’s attack is to characterize an

individual’s political position as irreligious (“engaged in a

final all-out battle between communistic atheism and

Christianity”) and unpatriotic (describing the greatness of

the nation and promoting America as the great “beacon”).

• McCarthy makes the wild claim that the government is

“thoroughly infested with Communists.”

Senator Joseph McCarthy’s

Accusations Of Disloyalty Speech(1)

• McCarthy makes the wild claim that the government is

“thoroughly infested with Communists.”

Senator Joseph McCarthy’s

Accusations Of Disloyalty Speech (2)

Cold War Propaganda

Elite manipulation has existed in

our country even prior to the

days of our founding. Masses

are susceptible to manipulation

as they are highly emotional.

Elites utilize symbolism to pull

these emotional heartstrings at

will. Enjoy this 1952 government

sponsored film vilifying

communism.

Communism

Elitism – How Information Flows

News is first “created” by opinion

elites and then sent to opinion leaders

to help disseminate the information.

Those at the very top of the elite

network decide what information is

deemed as necessary to offer society.

These elites may be news makers

themselves or in charge of large

media corporations. Opinion leaders

may be thought of as journalists,

news anchors, expert pundits or even

celebrities who possess legitimacy

among those in society.

Government Manipulation

Governmental elites find it

necessary to manipulate

the masses if doing so

serves a vested interest.

Here is a great example of

how a safety video can

serve as a tool for

manipulating the masses

from childhood. Who does

the monkey represent?

Duck And Cover

Manipulation & Mirror Myth

News media outlets are able to

“decide what will be decided."

Bias is exhibited throughout the

mainstream press. This is also

true for nontraditional news

sources as everyone is biased in

some way. Many in the news

media stress that they are

nonbiased since they only reflect

reality. Even if the news is

merely reflected or reported, it is

their choice of subjects that

proves their bias. All news is

biased. This is the “Mirror Myth."

Manipulation

How can we protect

ourselves against the

threats of germs and toxins?

Cold War America gears up

to fend off threats from

unconventional bioweapons.

This is another example of

how propaganda is utilized

to foster fear within society.

Biological Warfare

Spheres Of Influence

Spheres consist of individuals who

share a common set of interests and/or

belief systems. Individual participants

are the absolute micro-level of every

sphere. Here are some examples of

spheres: family, work, school, political

parties, and religion. Different spheres

of influence communicate with one

another through the individual who is a

member of those same spheres.

Various societal interactions influence

individual behavior.

Cinemocracy

Governmental elites may believe that

their national policies are so concrete

that it is necessary to utilize various

forms of propaganda gage in

propaganda to incite specific

reactions from its citizens. Various

forms of propaganda have been

utilized to drum up mass support to

better assure elite legitimacy.

Cinemocracy, the relationship

between motion pictures and

government is one way governmental

elites sell their agenda.

The Ducktators