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The Sinews of War: McCarthyism Crosses the Atlantic
Author(s) -
Gerth Matthew
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
australian journal of politics and history
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.123
H-Index - 23
eISSN - 1467-8497
pISSN - 0004-9522
DOI - 10.1111/ajph.12726
Subject(s) - resentment , psyche , government (linguistics) , political science , communism , law , spanish civil war , economic history , history , politics , psychology , psychoanalysis , philosophy , linguistics
At the height of the US Red Scare, Joseph McCarthy directed his attacks towards the United Kingdom. Tapping into deep‐seated Anglophobia in the American collective psyche, McCarthy infused it with his own brand of anti‐communism. He declared a personal war on the United Kingdom seeking to disrupt Anglo‐American relations. McCarthy's “paranoid style” and anti‐British sentiment manifested from a longer tradition of Midwestern resentment. Although the British government regarded his efforts as a significant threat to the “special relationship”, it refused to directly denounce or engage with the Wisconsin senator. This paper examines this little‐known episode of the McCarthy era.