Transcript Chapter 26.3x

The Cold War at Home
CHAPTER 26.3
Fear of Communism
 Red Scare #2
 March 1947, Federal Employee Loyalty Program
 Loyalty review board, are you loyal to government or
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not
Found 91 “subversives”
From 1947-1951 investigate 3.2 million, dismiss 212 as
security risks
2,900 resign b/c don’t want to be investigated or in
protest
https://youtu.be/AWeZ5SKXvj8?list=PLb79l658DLrGUKjh7
6zU88o6pKK5Ahm5n
HUAC
 House Un-American Activities Committee
 Goal: Created to locate and find Communists inside and outside the US gov.
 Investigated Communist influence in Hollywood (believed propaganda snuck into
films)
 Subpoena 43 witnesses, 10 refuse to show up “Hollywood Ten”
 Were sent to prison for refusing to answer questions
 Result of investigation was blacklisting of 500 people
 McCarran Internal Security Act: makes it unlawful to plan any action that
might lead to the establishment of a dictatorship in the US
https://www.youtube.com
/watch?v=nJzV6-wJ3SQ
HUAC Committee meeting
Alger Hiss
 1948 former Communist spy,
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Whittaker Chambers accuses Alger
Hiss of spying for USSR
Produces microfilm of government
documents that he claimed had
been typed by Hiss (“Pumpkin
Papers”)
Statute of limitations had passed
but was convicted of perjury and
sent to prison
Hiss claimed he was innocent and
papers were forged
**Documents from USSR in 1990s
seem to prove Hiss’s guilt**
The Rosenberg’s
 Sept 3, 1949, US learns USSR has an atomic bomb, able to make it
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faster than Americans had thought (very paranoid now)
1950- German physicist Klaus Fuchs admits to giving USSR information
on US’s atomic bomb (implicates the Rosenberg’s, known
Communists)
Says that Ethel Rosenberg’s brother gave information about bomb to
Julius who passed it to the USSR
Charged with espionage, plead 5th amendment in court, say being
targeted because of their political and religious beliefs, found guilty,
sentenced to death.
Most thought they were innocent, case went to Supreme Court who
upholds the decision, and they are electrocuted in 1953
 **information later proves that
 Julius was guilty and Ethel most
 likely innocent of any crime**
McCarthyism
 Most famous anti-communist activist,
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Joseph McCarthy (Rep from Wis)
Had reputation as being an ineffective
Senator, needs an issue to win re-election
picks Communism in US
(1952)Claims to have a list of hundreds of
Communists inside US government (never
actually produces one name)
1954 makes accusations against
communist in US Army, has publicly
televised trial, seen as a bully with no
proof, and really discredited
Modern day witch hunt
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LF_D
up_Mbv0
Causes of McCarthyism
 Soviets successfully establish Communist regimes in
Eastern Europe after WWII
 Soviets develop the atomic bomb more quickly than
expected
 Korean War ends in a stalemate
 Republicans gain popularity by accusing Truman and
the Democrats of being soft on Communism
The Effect of McCarthyism
 Millions of Americans are forced to take loyalty oaths
and undergo loyalty investigations
 Activism by labor unions goes into decline
 Many people are afraid to speak out on public issues
 Anti-Communism continues to drive US foreign policy