McCarthyism McCarthyism Learning objectives - describe the climate of irrational fear that pervaded the culture of the United States in the 1940's and 1950's. In the last lesson we learned how stereotyping leads to irrational fears and unwarranted suspicion. In today's class, we are going to look at stereotyping on a national scale. Teacher will assume the role of Joe McCarthy - teacher is to inform the class that someone in the class has communicable life threatening disease. Two other students are to be designated vice-chairmen.
Students are to write down the feelings they encountered during the trial.
Their reflections are to form the 1st entry into their journal. Answer whether or not the teacher was justified. This activity is developmental. It is designed to acquaint students with the irrational fear of communism that existed in the United States. This irrational fear was the driving force behind American foreign policy for the 2nd half of this century.