Transcript Subversion

• Subvert- to cause the downfall, ruin,
or destruction of; to overthrow; to
corrupt.
• Subversion- an act or instance of
subverting
Cold War.
World War II had barley ended when the Cold
War began. The Cold War pitted two ideologies,
Communism and Capitalism, against one
another. Josef Stalin was the Soviet dictator, he
launched one of the soviets first attacks in April
1945. An ally in World II, the Soviet Union
quickly became the United States’ bitter enemy,
and the world seemed to be choosing sides. In
Europe, the Soviets blockaded Berlin and
drastically restricted Western access to
Communist counties.
The Cold War was raging throughout the world and on
the American homefront as well. Rumors of “atomic
bombs” mixed with allegations that several high-level
government officials including Assistant Treasury
Secretary Harry Dexter White were spying on the
Soviets. The government focused its attention on the
suspected ringleader of spy recruitment efforts, the
Communist Party of the United States. (CPUSA) They
wanted to replace the U.S government the a
communist government. People joined the CPUSA for
many reasons, membership hit an all time low of
80,000 in 1944, when the Soviet Union was still
America’s ally.
• The federal government worked to crush the CPUSA (Communist Party of
the United States of America) and stop the flow of secrets to the Soviet
Union.
• Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, the House Committee on Un-American
Activities interrogated hundreds of people about Communist activity in
the US.
• They questioned former spies, Hollywood personalities, and labor union
leaders.
• Senator Joseph McCarthy led an investigation into Communist activity at
government agencies.
– His accusations eventually cost him his political support.
– In December 1954, McCarthy’s colleagues in the Senate condemned him for bringing
the Senate “into dishonor and disrepute.”
• President Truman established a federal employee
loyalty program in 1946. Executive Order 9835
mandated that every federal employee sign an oath
swearing allegiance to the United States. It also
created committees to investigate disloyal federal
employees.
• The president publicly criticized the Senate
subcommittee and repeatedly stated that McCarthy’s
allegations were baseless.
• J. Edgar Hoover described Communism as “an evil and
malignant way of life” and dedicated much of his career to
fighting against it.
• In the 1930s the FBI began collecting files on thousands of
suspected Communists from Lucille Ball to Albert Einstein to
Eleanor Roosevelt.
• In 1948 using evidence gathered by the FBI, the Justice
Department accused eleven leaders of the CPUSA for violating
the Smith Act, which made it a crime to advocate the violent
overthrow of the U.S. government. The jury found all eleven
defendants guilty.
Reds in decline.
• By the mid 1950s, the Communist Party of the
United States was dying. Many members quit,
weary of political pressure and disillusioned
by revelations of Stalin’s brutality that
emerged after his death in 1953. Key spies and
party leaders were in prison or had fled the
country. The final blow came in 1954 when
the Communist Control Act completely
outlawed the party, sending the few
remaining members into hiding.
• The practice of publicizing accusations of political disloyalty or
subversion with insufficient regard to evidence.
• The word “McCarthyism” is used to refer to the frenzy
surrounding the anti-Communist crusade in the United States.
• Senator McCarthy was a relative latecomer to the antiCommunist movement, and his fight against Communism only
lasted five years.
• Anti-Communism was a way for McCarthy to steer his way
into the political spotlight, but his spotlight dimmed quickly.
• The term “McCarthyism” continues to be a big part of the
American vocabulary.
Communist Party of the
USA
Caitlin Motes and Kaela Bishop
1938-1956
Communists in America