The Hysteria of the

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Mccarthyism

• The Hysteria of the
• Second Red Scare

Cold War Conformity in the 1950s
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The Search For Internal Security
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Search for Internal Security

• Loyalty and conformity to the wishes of the
  country a must for the government and society for
  many Americans.
• Were highly suspicious of anything or anyone
  considered different.
• Regarded people with different opinions as a
  pinko, commie, or un-American.
• Only way to measure loyalty was the intensity and
  consistency of a persons anti-Communism.
• Result a witch-hunt to root out suspected
  Communists from every aspect of society.

Typical American Family in the 1950s
http//img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/01_05/spend
erold2801_468x314.jpg
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Basic CharacteristicsTrumans Foreign Policy

• Trumans foreign policy plays on these
  sentiments.
• Reinforced the traditional fears of the Soviets
  and communism.
• Uncovered spy rings in Canada, Britain, and other
  nations confirm suspicions about the Soviet
  Unions intent total world domination through
  the subversion of existing governments.

POTUS Harry S Truman In Masonic
Garb http//www.phoenixmasonry.org/10,000_famous_f
reemasons/images/harry_s_truman_pgm_missouri_1.jpg
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Basic CharacteristicsTrumans Foreign Policy

• Cabinet members make speeches that state that
  communists were everywhere in America and could
  be anybody.
• Basic message TRUST NOBODY.
• Wanted people to turn in people they suspected of
  associating or sympathizing with communism.
• Special targets placed on college campuses,
  Hollywood, publishing companies, and editorial
  staffs.

The Redolution http//eatemandbeatem.com/redScare.
jpg
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Basic CharacteristicsAmerican Communist Party

• Activities limited and power weakened to the
  vigilant mentality of many Americans.
• Scandals involving suspected American communists
  revolved around their activities during the Great
  Depression.

Communist Party of America http//images.google.c
om/imgres?imgurl
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Pre-McCarthy McCarthyism
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Pre-McCarthy McCarthyismLoyalty Review Board,
Mar 1947

• Full-scale loyalty investigation of all present
  and prospective federal employees.
• No source of information, no matter how
  inaccurate or questionable, was to be ignored.
• The Central Master Index.
• A compilation of all collected loyalty data.
• An employee or prospective employee could be
  removed or refused hire if they had sympathetic
  association with any foreign or domestic
  organization designated by the attorney general
  as subversive.
• Impact of the LRB.
• Business organizations, labor unions, and the
  government would use the list to fire or deny
  hiring employees.
• Laid the ground work for the new Red Scare and
  the witch hunts of HUAC and Senator Joseph
  McCarthy.

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Pre-McCarthy McCarthyismHUAC (House Un-American
Activities Committee)

• Origins.
• Originally founded in 1938 during the New Deal as
  a temporary investigations unit.
• Fell out of favor in World War II, but was
  revived by newly-elected Congressman Richard
  Nixon of CA.
• Would serve to destroy the lives of suspected
  Communists and advance the political careers of
  key individual politicians.

Richard Nixon (Right) In His HUAC
Days http//jeremayakovka.typepad.com/photos/uncat
egorized/2007/07/11/nixon_stripling.jpg
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Pre-McCarthy McCarthyismHUAC (House Un-American
Activities Committee)

• Purpose.
• Search for suspected Communists, root them out,
  and investigate the extent of their infiltration.

Members of HUAC http//www.billmandel.net/i/huac_
members.jpg
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Pre-McCarthy McCarthyismHUAC (House Un-American
Activities Committee)

• How HUAC functioned.
• Manipulated various channels of publicity to
  reveal the political associations of individuals
  who had unorthodox ideals and ostracize them from
  positions of power.
• Threatened and manipulated witnesses.
• As a result, many would tell lies in order to
  save their own skin.
• Refusal to answer questions or cooperate was
  similar to an admission of guilt.

Political Cartoon Criticizing HUAC Methods
http//www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAhuac.JPG
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Pre-McCarthy McCarthyismHUAC (House Un-American
Activities Committee)

• The Hollywood Scandals of October, 1947.
• Wanted to expose those elements that are
  insidiously trying topoison the minds of your
  children, distort the history of our country, and
  discredit Christianity.
• Was a failure in its attempt to prove Communist
  influence in the film industry.

Prominent Actors Writers Protesting the
Hollywood Ten Scandals http//farm3.static.flickr.
com/2346/2018958027_f09c48d75e_o.jpg
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Pre-McCarthy McCarthyismHUAC (House Un-American
Activities Committee)

• What it did do
• Frightened movie, television, and radio
  executives into doing a housecleaning.
• Blacklisted actors, actresses, writers, and
  directors who were suspected of having Communist
  sympathies.
• Forced the movie, television, radio, comic book,
  and newspaper industries to set strict standards,
  many of which would last into the Eighties.

Humphrey Bogart Lauren Bacall Leading An Actors
Protest Against HUAC http//people.cohums.ohio-sta
te.edu/childs1/OutlineSecond20Red20Scare_files/i
mage001.jpg
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Pre-McCarthy McCarthyismHUAC (House Un-American
Activities Committee)

• Whittaker Chambers.
• Former member of the Communist party, quit in
  1937.
• When interviewed by HUAC, he was one of the top
  editors at Time magazine.
• Was still in contact with many of his former
  friends who now held positions of power in
  Washington, D.C.

Whittaker Chambers Giving Testimony At HUAC
Hearings http//www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/
ftrials/hiss/chambersHUAC1.jpg
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Pre-McCarthy McCarthyismHUAC (House Un-American
Activities Committee)

• Alger Hiss.
• Former associate of Chambers, was an official in
  the State Department during the New Deal and the
  early years of World War II.
• President of the Carnegie Endowment for
  International Peace, one of the worlds richest
  philanthropic institute, since 1947.
• Accused by Chambers of still being a Communist.

Alger Hiss Swearing To Tell The Truth Before the
HUAC Hearings http//southdakotapolitics.blogs.com
/south_dakota_politics/images/alger_hiss_takes_oat
h.jpg
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Pre-McCarthy McCarthyismHUAC (House Un-American
Activities Committee)

• Alger Hiss.
• Hiss denies the accusations and demands to have a
  hearing by HUAC.
• Chambers is reexamined and details are brought
  out concerning the activities of Chambers and
  Hiss.
• Hiss and Chambers were involved in a Soviet spy
  ring.
• Hiss was passing classified government documents
  to the Soviets.
• Hiss denies involvement.
• HUAC does not buy it, sentences Hiss to five
  years in prison and a 10,000 fine for perjury.

Chambers Reading Of The Decision Of HUAC On
Alger Hiss http//www.authentichistory.com/1950s/s
peeches/images/19500123_Whittaker_Chambers.jpg
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Pre-McCarthy McCarthyismHUAC (House Un-American
Activities Committee)

• Impact.
• Would further uphold the belief that privileged,
  high-positioned individuals had betrayed the
  country.
• HUAC would gain support from established
  Americas, as well as Irish, Italian, and Polish
  immigrants in the Midwest.

Criticism Of HUAC http//www.moderntimes.com/black
list/image/huac.jpg
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Senator Joseph McCarthy, WI
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Joseph McCarthyMcCarthyism Defined

• An expression for wild, unfounded charges of
  disloyalty.
• Basically conducted as a witch hunt.

McCarthy Campaigning For A Senate
Seat http//www.faculty.umb.edu/hannah_sevian/G660
/TechPres/Fall2003/McCarthyism_files/image002.jpg
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Joseph McCarthyMcCarthy Rise To Power

• Wheeling Speech, February 9, 1950.
• Declared that the United States had emerged from
  World War II as the strongest nation in the
  world.
• Believed that it had been weakened in recent
  years because of the traitorous actions of those
  who have been treated so well by this nation.

McCarthy With The List http//www.spartacus.scho
olnet.co.uk/USAmccarthy3.jpg
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Joseph McCarthyMcCarthy Rise To Power

• Wheeling Speech, (Cont.).
• None were worse than those bright young men in
  the State Department born silver spoons in their
  mouths.
• Blames the privileged, educated New Dealers
  brought in by FDR.
• I have in my hand the names of 205 men that were
  known to the Secretary of State as being members
  of the Communist party and who nevertheless are
  still working and shaping the policy of the State
  Department.
• Never substantiated a single name, but increased
  the accusations.

McCarthy Delivering Wheeling Speech http//www.wi
sconsinhistory.org/whi/feature/mccarthy/images/WHS
_Image_ID_8006.jpg
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Joseph McCarthyMcCarthy Stroke of Luck--Spies

• Klaus Fuchs.
• German-born nuclear physicist who worked on the
  atomic bomb at Los Alamos.
• Was passing secrets to the Russians.
• Arrested by the British, sentenced to four years
  in prison for espionage, and implicated other
  American Communists in his activities, including
  officials in the American government.

Klaus Fuchs ID Badge At Los Alamos http//upload.
wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/Klaus_Fuchs_I
D_badge.png
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Joseph McCarthyMcCarthy Stroke of Luck--Spies

• Ethel and Julius Rosenberg.
• Charged with passing atomic secrets and speeding
  up Russian success with the atomic bomb.
• Judge declared the crime worse than murder.
• Rosenbergs sentenced to death and executed in
  1953.

Ethel Julius Rosenberg Awaiting
Execution http//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/co
mmons/6/68/Julius_and_Ethel_Rosenberg_NYWTS.jpg
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Joseph McCarthyMcCarthy Picks Up Steam

• McCarthy supports General MacArthur following his
  dismissal by Truman.
• Attacks General Marshall and General Eisenhower,
  accusing them of being soft on Communists in
  the military.
• Some Americans felt McCarthy had gone too far,
  but money kept pouring into McCarthys election
  coffers.

General Douglas MacArthur http//splinteredsunrise
.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/douglas_macarthur.jpg
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Joseph McCarthyMcCarran Acts, 1952

• McCarran Internal Security Act.
• Made it unlawful to conspire to establish a
  totalitarian dictatorship.
• All communist-action and communist front
  organizations were assumed to be such
  conspiracies.
• Required to register all members and meeting
  notes with the Attorney General.
• Gave the president the power to arrest and detain
  any person that would probably engage in acts
  of espionage and sabotage.

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Joseph McCarthyMcCarran Acts, 1952

• Trumans response.
• Vetoes the bill, calling it the greatest danger
  to freedom of speech, press, and assembly since
  the alien and sedition acts of 1798.
• Believed it was actually a step towards the
  totalitarianism it was meant to combat.
• Congress overrides the veto.

POTUS Harry S Truman http//content.answers.com/ma
in/content/wp/en/thumb/7/73/180px-Truman_initiatin
g_Korean_involvement.jpg
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Joseph McCarthyMcCarran Acts, 1952

• McCarran-Walter Immigration Act.
• Again passed over Trumans veto.
• Empowered the Attorney General to screen out
  subversives within the permitted quotas and also
  allowed the Attorney General to deport them even
  after they became naturalized citizens.
• Impact.
• Intensified Americas preoccupation with internal
  security.
• Increases American xenophobia.
• Supported McCarthys unfounded claims.

Criticism Of McCarthyism http//content.screencast
.com/media/
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Joseph McCarthyDecline of McCarthyism, 1953-55

• Attack on Ambassador Charles E. Bohlen.
• Good friend of President Eisenhower, served as
  FDRs interpreter at Yalta.
• Received the consent of McCarthy after a
  vicious character assassination and lobbying by
  McCarthy to appoint the new State Department
  security officer.

Charles E. Bohlen http//content.answers.com/main/
content/wp/en/thumb/1/1a/196px-Charles_Bohlen.png
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Joseph McCarthyDecline of McCarthyism, 1953-55

• International Information Administration.
• Branch of the State Department responsible for
  disseminating printed materials to other
  countries.
• Failed to uncover a single Communist, but many
  books, including those of prominent American
  writers Hemingway and Fitzgerald, were withdrawn
  and some publicly burned.
• Shocked many Americans who were tiring of
  McCarthys Nazi-style tactics.

Book Burning In The U.S. http//www.911familiesfor
america.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/nazi-book-b
urning-1933.jpg
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Joseph McCarthyDecline of McCarthyism, 1953-55

• Army-McCarthy Hearings.
• McCarthy accuses the U.S. Army of coddling
  Communists in the U.S.
• Also questions the loyalty and integrity of
  several top generals.
• First time many Americans actually witnessed
  McCarthys wild accusations.
• Very offensive to the viewing audience, Army
  officials, and his fellow Senators.

Americans Watching The Army-McCarthy Hearings At
A Television Store http//www2.jsonline.com/news/2
000/y2k/ourcentury/images/CENTURY-MCCARTHY2.jpg
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Joseph McCarthyDecline of McCarthyism, 1953-55

• Army-McCarthy Hearings.
• Result Senate officially condemns McCarthy for
  conduct unbecoming a member of the United States
  Senate.
• McCarthys power would decline until his death in
  1957 from alcoholism.

Army-McCarthy Hearings http//cache.viewimages.com
/xc/51649986.jpg?
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Arthur Miller The Crucible
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Arthur Miller The CrucibleBackground of Arthur
Miller

• One of Marilyn Monroes ex-husbands.
• Noted playwright and author, works included The
  Man Who Had All the Luck (1944), All My Sons
  (1944), The Story of GI Joe (1945), Focus (1945),
  Death of a Salesman (1949), and The Crucible
  (1953).

Arthur Miller Marilyn Monroe http//www.un-scri
pted.com/blogs/alan/uploaded_images/Miller-727882.
jpg
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Arthur Miller The CrucibleBackground of Arthur
Miller

• Called before HUAC in the early 1940s along with
  writer Eliz Kazan.
• Answered HUACs questions concerning his own
  activities.
• Had attended a few writers meetings sponsored by
  the Communist party in 1947, but did not join the
  party.
• Supported a peace conference held at the
  Waldorf-Astoria in New York, where he signed many
  appeals and protests to the Korean War.
• Refused to name others who he knew associated
  with leftist or Communist organizations. Felt
  that their political views were none of his or
  the governments business. Cited for contempt of
  Congress, but overturned.

Arthur Miller Testifying In Front Of
HUAC http//www.ucm.es/info/FInglesa/ArthurMillerH
UAC.jpg
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Arthur Miller The CrucibleThe Crucible

• Based on court records and historical personages
  from the Salem Witch Trials of 1692.
• Discussed how persecution and unfounded
  accusations can affect humanity.

Scene From The 1996 Film Version Of The
Crucible http//www.witchvox.com/media/media_image
s/crucible3.jpg
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Arthur Miller The CrucibleThe Crucible

• Was an allegory for the McCarthy era and mass
  hysteria.
• According to Miller, the play was written in an
  atmosphere that accepted the notion that
  conscience was no longer a private matter, but
  one of state administration.
• Expresses his faith in the ability of an
  individual to resist conformist pressures.

Cover To The Crucible http//img47.imageshack.us/i
mg47/6323/thecrucibleev5.jpg