Limitations on Freedom during the Cold War Essay

Limitations on Freedom during the Cold War - Essay Example It also explores the reactions of Americans in each era. The main similarities between the Cold War and the Red Scare are that they were both based on â€Å"fears† against the â€Å"leftist† other and they also led to reckless accusations and curtailment of freedoms of association and speech. The fear of communism both stimulated the Cold War and the Red Scare. It was during the Red Scare that the federal government exercised its full power against the labor and political left-wing parties. During the Red Scare, a national anti-radical hysteria ensued, because there were fears for a Bolshevik revolution in America. This Bolshevik revolution threatened to reshape the American way of life and basic social institutions, such as home and family. From 1916 to 917, the Industrial Workers conducted several strikes, which the media portrayed as leftist and anti-democratic. The government systematically arrested and detained people who were suspected as spies and among those aff ected were labor organizations, anti-war activists, members of different communist organizations, journalists and writers, African American activists, and other groups that fought for just wages, better benefits, and child labor laws. On January 2, 1920 alone, 10,000 people were arrested without warrants. The Congress, however, could not tolerate such wide-scale abuses of constitutional rights and by 1922, the Red Scare ended.