McCarthyism and the Cold War at Home

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McCarthyism and the Cold War at Home
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Bomb Shelters
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Duck and Cover
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The Red Scare

• Hysteria caused by fear and anxiety about the
  Soviet threat.
• Many Americans came to believe that there were
  communists working within their society to
  undermine the United States.

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The Red Scare
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McCarthyism

• The use of the charge of communism to discredit
  political ideas, cultural values, and
  individuals lives and reputations.
• At the height of McCarthyism in the 1950s,
  Americans from all walks of life were accused of
  being communist.

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Joe McCarthy

• Senator who charged that there were 205 communist
  spies in the state department who were selling
  out the United States.
• When a great democracy is destroyed, it will not
  be because of the enemies from without, but
  rather because of the enemies from within.

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• McCarthy investigated prominent American writers,
  actors, directors, government officials, and
  influential American cultural and social leaders.
• He even charged President Truman with being a
  communist agent. If the President and other
  prominent and influential Americans were under
  suspicion of being communists, any and every
  American could be a communist!

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• Federal, state, and local governments and private
  organization created blacklists of people and
  organizations suspected of being communists.
• You could lose your job, your life and your
  reputation could be ruined.
• In fact, only 10 of the actors, writers,
  directors and producers on the Hollywood
  blacklist ever worked in Hollywood again.

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Who was accused?

• If you could prove that someone else was a
  communist, no one would point the accusing finger
  at you. Some of the accused were
• Rock and Roll musicians
• Teachers
• University Professors
• Librarians
• Girl Scouts

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How were rights violated?

• American were afraid to speak their mind or talk
  about their opinions
• United States did not have free and open debate
  about Americas role in the world and our
  aggressive policies of the time.

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Effect

• Revelations about government violations of the
  laws and of Americans basic rights caused many
  Americans to question their government and its
  commitment to democracy.

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Alger Hiss

• Hiss was a U.S. State Department official who was
  accused of being a Soviet spy in 1948.
• His guilt or innocence remains controversial.
• The case heightened public concern about Soviet
  espionage penetration of the U.S. Government in
  the 1930s and 1940s. As a well-educated, and
  highly connected government official, Alger Hiss
  did not have the profile of a typical spy.

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The Rosenbergs

• Preponderance of the evidence indicates that
  Julius was involved in espionage, but the record
  is unclear about Ethel.
• The political air of the trial, along with the
  pre-trial beliefs of the judge made it almost
  impossible for the Rosenbergs to get a fair trial
  by jury.

This was the first execution of civilians for
espionage in United States history. The New York
Times, in an editorial on the 50th anniversary of
the execution wrote, "The Rosenbergs case still
haunts American history, reminding us of the
injustice that can be done when a nation gets
caught up in hysteria."
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• The Rosenbergs were punished far more harshly
  than other atomic spies.