In Chapter 5 of The Age of McCarthyism, author Ellen Schrecker gives a comprehensive background on the issues surrounding communists in government and the spy cases during the period of McCarthyism in the mid-20^th century. She also explains the role of various government committees such as the Dies Committee of 1941 which later became HUAC: the House Un-American Activities Committee. In addition, the chapter gives a brief but helpful synopsis of four important cases of the era: the Amerasia trial, the Igor Gouzenko case, the case of Elizabeth Bentley (better known as The Red Spy Queen), and the well known trial of Alger Hiss. Schrecker argues that the publicity of the Igor Gouzenko trial, despite the fact that it took place in Canada, gave the American public the idea that all communists were Soviet agents regardless of their nationality. Throughout the material that Schrecker presents in this chapter, she argues that these well known cases of communist activity in America gave real "legitimacy" to the American public's fear of communist espionage in the United States.

    Schrecker's argument brings to light significant issues in relation to the film The Manchurian Candidate (1962). In Frankenheimmer's film, based off of Richard Condon's 1959 novel of the same title, Senator Joseph McCarthy is represented in the characters of Senator Iselin and his wife, Raymond Shaw's mother. While the film does not follow the follow the life of Senator McCarthy, the Iselin's do serve as a powerful representation of McCarthyism with a twist-Mrs. Iselin is actually a communist operator controlling both her son Raymond and her husband. All in all, Schrecker's work provides the historical and political context necessary to fully understand the nuances and powerful meaning behind The Manchurian Candidate.

I will write an excellent bibliography on this film.

Pfaelzer, J. (1999). Salt of the Earth: Women, Class, and the Utopian Imagination. Legacy: A Journal of American Women Writers, 16 (1): 120-31.

This is an article that deals with representations of working women and class in the film.