Transcript McCarthyism and the Cold War at Home

McCarthyism and the
Cold War at Home
Bomb Shelters
Duck and Cover
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.
The Red Scare
The Red Scare
McCarthyism
• The use of the charge of communism to
discredit political ideas, cultural values,
and individual’s lives and reputations.
• At the height of McCarthyism in the 1950s,
Americans from all walks of life were
accused of being communist.
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.”
• 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!
• 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.
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
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 America’s role in the world
and our aggressive policies of the time.
Effect
• Revelations about government violations
of the laws and of American’s basic rights
caused many Americans to question their
government and its commitment to
democracy.
• 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.
Alger Hiss
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."
The Rosenbergs were punished far more harshly
than other atomic spies.