Question

an excerpt from senator joseph mccarthy’s speech in wheeling, west virginia, on february 9, 1950, is shown.
“ladies and gentlemen, can there be anyone tonight who is so blind as to say that the war is not on? can there be anyone who fails to realize that the communist world has said the time is now? … that this is the time for the show - down between the democratic christian world and the communistic atheistic world?
unless we face this fact, we shall pay the price that must be paid by those who wait too long …
… as one of our outstanding historical figures once said, ‘when a great democracy is destroyed, it will not be from enemies from without, but rather because of enemies from within.’”
—senator joseph mccarthy
what was a reaction that senator mccarthy’s speech inspired among many americans?

• fear of the spread of communism inside the united states
• support for existing policies to address communism in the unite states
• satisfaction that americans would continue to fight communism abroad
• anger over human rights violations that communists were committing in other countries

Explanation:

To solve this, we analyze the speech: McCarthy emphasizes a "show - down" between democratic - Christian and communistic - atheistic worlds and quotes about "enemies from within".

• Option 1: The speech's focus on internal enemies (communists within the US) and the "war" against communism would inspire fear of communism spreading inside the US.
• Option 2: McCarthy's speech was part of starting a new, more aggressive approach (McCarthyism), not supporting existing policies.
• Option 3: The speech is about internal threats, not fighting communism abroad.
• Option 4: The speech is about domestic communist threats, not human rights violations abroad.

Answer:

A. fear of the spread of communism inside the United States