The Red Scare

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• The Red Scare

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Cold War Fears

• Loyalty Oaths
• 1. Fear of Communism caused security checks of
  govt workers, university employees, and other
  individuals
• a. Some were asked to sign oaths swearing their
  loyalty to U.S.
• b. 1950-McCarran Act- Required all
• Communist organizations to register
• with the govt

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• B. Un-American Activities
• 1. House Un-American Activities Committee
• (HUAC) investigated Communist
• subversion
• a. many were interviewed and were
• under suspicion of being Comm.
• 2. HUAC investigated the Hollywood
• film industry
• a. The Hollywood Ten went to jail b/c
• they refused to answer questions

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• b. Blacklists were created-included people
  whose loyalty was questionable-they couldnt work
  in Hollywood
• Hollywood 10

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• C. American Spies Revealed
• 1. Whittaker Chambers admitted that he had spied
  for S.U. in 1930s
• a. accused Alger Hiss, a former
• U.S. State Dept. official, of giving
• him documents
• 2. Hiss was found guilty of perjury, not spying,
  and sent to jail (too much time had passed to try
  him for spying)

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• 3. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were accused of
  passing secret info about the atomic bomb to the
  Soviet Union
• a. they were found guilty and
• executed by the electric chair

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II. McCarthyism

• Alleged Communists
• 1. Senator Joseph McCarthy spent 1950-54 hunting
  for Communists in America
• 2. His unfounded accusations destroyed the
  careers of many and caused an anti-Communist
  hysteria in the country
• a. McCarthyismthe unproved accusations against
  political opponents

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• B. The Rise of McCarthy
• 1. McCarthy made a speech claiming that he had a
  list of 205 State Dept. employees who were
  members of the Communist Party-millions believed
  him
• 2. For 4 yrs. a congressional subcommittee
  bullied people and even fire them over the
  senators accusations
• 3. Many of his targets were Democrats (he was a
  Rep.)
• 4. Richard Nixon won a congressional seat
  because he accused his opponents of being soft
  on Communism
• 5. Americans were terrified of the threat of
  Communism

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• C. McCarthys Downfall
• 1. McCarthy investigated the U.S. Army
• 2. He accused many high ranking army officials
  of being Communists
• 3. The hearings were on T.V. and Americans saw
  him as a cruel bully

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• 4. Congress even turned against McCarthy and he
  was criticized for conduct unbecoming a senator
• 5. The witch hunt was over but not before many
  lives and careers had been damaged