Most Significant Events

Most Significant Events

Robert D. Hall

His/135

28 February 2010

Cynthia Krupa

Most Significant Events

“We live in a moment of history where change is so speeded up that we begin to see the present only when it is already disappearing” (Lang, 1968). Every decade is remembered by one significant event that took place that changed the lives of many people. The purpose of this essay is to educate people in the events that are found to be the most significant of that particular decade after the end of World War II. From the 1950s through the 1990s a significant event took place that will forever be remembered in history. The first event found to be significant in the 20th century happened in the 1950s.

A senator from Wisconsin named Joseph Raymond McCarthy became the most remembered public figure in a period in which tensions over a Cold War generated fears of widespread communist sympathizers living in the United States. Known as McCarthyism, thousands of American citizens were accused of being communist sympathizers during the 1950s (Fried, 1990).

McCarthy’s goals were to try to discredit anyone who did not agree with him. This ultimately hurt his creditability in the end when his fellow senators passed a vote to officially censure him a few months after he took office (Turner, 1996). This event in history hurt the United States, by having a senator accuse his fellow cabinet members of being communist made many Americans question the creditability of other elected officials in office.

This event was more significant than any other event in the 50s because this was the beginning of the Cold War, and no one trusted each other, including government officials.

The nature of this event could not have come at a worse time. The United States was just starting to pull things together after World War II, and it would not be long before the Korean War would start. This event did not accomplish the goal for which it was intended because,...