Transcript McCarthyism PPT

McCarthyism
The Red Scare
Communism in the 1930s

During the Great Depression of the 1930s,
it became fashionable for Americans to
discuss political ways to help relieve the
suffering of poor, unemployed Americans.

Some artists, writers, and entertainers
began to explore the themes of socialism
and communism.
The Alien Registration Act
 The
passed Congress passed the
Alien Registration Act on 29th
June, 1940, making it illegal for
anyone in the United States to
advocate, abet, or teach the
desirability of overthrowing the
government.
Alien Registration Act

The law also required all alien residents in
the United States over 14 years of age to
file a comprehensive statement of their
personal and occupational status and a
record of their political beliefs.
 Within
four months a total of
4,741,971 aliens had been registered.
Communist Party
 The
main objective of the Alien
Registration Act was to undermine
the American Communist Party
and other left-wing political groups
in the United States.
HUAC
House of Representatives
Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)


The purpose was to discover if people
were trying to overthrow the government.

This committee was set up in 1938 to
investigate people suspected of unpatriotic
behavior.
Hollywood Investigated

In 1947 the HUAC investigated 41 people
working in Hollywood.

These 41 people were considered “friendly
witnesses.”

They named 19 people who they
considered to hold “left-wing” views.
Holly wood 10
 Ten
of the people named refused to
answer any questions by the HUAC.
 “The
Hollywood 10” were arrested for
contempt of congress and sentenced
to between 6 and 12 months in prison.
Who were the Hollywood 10?
 Herbert
Biberman, Lester Cole,
Albert Maltz, Adrian Scott, Samuel
Ornitz,, Dalton Trumbo, Edward
Dmytryk, Ring Lardner Jr., John
Howard Lawson and Alvah Bessie
Hollywood Informers
 It
became clear that the only way to
clear one’s name was to answer the
HUAC’s questions and reveal names
of other individuals who might be
members of the Communist Party or
have “left-wing ideas.”
Red Channels

In June, 1950, three former FBI agents and a
right-wing television producer, Vincent Harnett
published Red Channels, a pamphlet listing the
names of 151 writers, directors, and performers
who they claimed had been members of
subversive organizations before WWII. The
names came from FBI files and detailed analysis
of a newspaper called The Daily Worker
published by the American Communist Party.
Hollywood Blacklisting

A copy of Red Channels was sent to employers in
the entertainment industry.

All the people listed were blacklisted until they
appeared before the HUAC to convince its
members that they had completely renounced
their “radical past.”
Hollywood Blacklisting
 If
people refused to name names
when called to appear before the
HUAC, they were added to the
blacklist.
 Over 320 people were placed on this
list that stopped them from working in
the entertainment industry.
Hollywood Blacklist

Many famous writers, actors, and directors were
placed on the blacklist including:
Leonard Bernstein, Charlie Chaplin, Aaron
Copland, Howard Da Silva, Dashiell Hammett,
Lillian Hellman, Burl Ives, Arthur Miller,
Dorothy Parker, Pete Seeger, Orson Welles,
Richard Wright and others.
Arrest of Communist Party Leaders
The FBI used the Alien Registration Act to
arrest the leaders of the American
Communist Party in October 1949.
 After a nine-month trial, eleven members
were convicted of violating the act.
 Over the next two years another 46
members were arrested and charged with
advocating to overthrow the government.

Famous Spy Cases
 In
1947, President Truman ordered
background checks of every civilian in
service to the government. When
Alger Hiss, a high-ranking State
Department official was convicted on
espionage charges, fear of communists
intensified.
Famous Spy Cases
 Alger
Hiss was accused of having
given government secrets to the
Soviets back in the 1930s.
 Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, an
American couple were convicted
with having passed military secrets
to the Soviets during the 1940s.
McCarthy’s Wheeling Speech
 In
February 1950, an undistinguished,
first-term Republican senator from
Wisconsin burst into national
prominence when he made a speech in
Wheeling, West Virginia, claiming that
he had a list 205 communists who
were currently working in the State
Department.
Senator Joseph McCarthy
McCarthy is a Liar
He later reduced the number to 57,
although he never provided proof of his
allegations.
 These people had been identified during a
preliminary screening of 3,000 federal
employees. Some had been communists
but others had been fascists, alcoholics,
and sexual deviants.

Communist Paranoia
 McCarthy
capitalized on national
paranoia by proclaiming that
COMMUNIST SPIES were
omnipresent and that he was
America's only salvation.
McCarthy’s Hypocrisy
 If
screened, McCarthy’s own
drinking problems and
homosexuality would have resulted
in him being put on the list!
Communist Witch Hunts
For the next two years McCarthy's
committee investigated various
government departments and questioned a
large number of people about their
political past.
 Some lost their jobs after they admitted
they had been members of the Communist
Party.

Communist Witch-hunts

McCarthy made it clear to the witnesses
that the only way of showing that they had
abandoned their left-wing views was by
naming other members of the party.

This witch-hunt and anti-communist
hysteria became known as McCarthyism.
McCarthy’s Senate Committee
McCarthy Attacks Democrats
At first Joseph McCarthy mainly targeted
Democrats associated with the New Deal
policies of the 1930s.
 Truman was portrayed as a dangerous
liberal.
 McCarthy's campaign helped the
Republican candidate, Dwight Eisenhower,
win the presidential election in 1952.

Atom Bomb Feeds Paranoia

An atmosphere of fear of world domination by
communists hung over America in the postwar
years. There were fears of a nuclear holocaust
based on the knowledge that the Soviet Union
exploded its first A-bomb in 1949.
Red China
 That
same year, China, the world's
most populous nation, became
communist. Half of Europe was
under Joseph Stalin's influence, and
every time Americans read their
newspapers there seemed to be a new
atomic threat.
Book Banning
 McCarthy
targeted books in public
libraries written by communists,
former-communists, or procommunists as anti-American.

Some public
libraries even
banned The
Adventures of
Robinhood because
its message of
“robbing from the
rich to give to the
poor” was thought
to favor
communism.
McCarthy’s Hypocrisy Revealed

Hank Greenspun published an article in
the Las Vegas Sun in 25th October, 1952
revealing McCarthy’s homosexuality.
Greenspun wrote that: "It is common talk
among homosexuals in Milwaukee who
rendezvous in the White Horse Inn that
Senator Joe McCarthy has often engaged in
homosexual activities."
McCarthy Marries
 Rather
than file a lawsuit which would
force McCarthy to answer questions
about his sexuality, McCarthy married
his secretary, Jeannie Kerr in an
attempt to stop the rumors about what
he had labeled an “anti-American”
sexual orientation.
Red Scare Terror
 For
several years, McCarthy terrorized
American public life, and even Dwight
Eisenhower, who detested McCarthy,
was afraid to stand up to him. Finally,
however, the senator from Wisconsin
over-reached himself.
McCarthy Attacks the Military
In October, 1953, McCarthy began
investigating communist infiltration into
the military.
 McCarthy attempted to discredit Robert
Stevens, the Secretary of the Army.

Eisenhower Fights Back

The president,
Dwight
Eisenhower, was
furious and realized
that it was time to
bring an end to
McCarthy's
activities.
Eisenhower Defends Military


Dwight Eisenhower,
a former general
had was loyal to the
military.
Dwight Eisenhower
also instructed his
vice president,
Richard Nixon, to
attack Joseph
McCarthy.
Nixon Attacks McCarthy

On 4th March, 1954, Nixon made a
speech where, although not mentioning
McCarthy, made it clear who he was talking
about: "Men who have in the past done
effective work exposing Communists in
this country have, by reckless talk and
questionable methods, made themselves
the issue rather than the cause they believe
in so deeply."
Journalists Fight Back

Some figures in the media, such as writers
Freda Kirchway, George Seldes and I. F.
Stone, and cartoonists, Herb Block and
Daniel Fitzpatrick, had fought a long
campaign against Joseph McCarthy.
Journalists Expose McCarthy
 Other
figures in the media, who
had for a long time been opposed
to McCarthyism but were
frightened to speak out, now began
to get the confidence to join the
counter-attack.
Murrow Speaks Out on TV

Edward Murrow, the experienced
broadcaster, used his television program,
See It Now, on 9th March, 1954, to criticize
McCarthy's methods. Newspaper
columnists such as Walter Lippmann and
Jack Anderson also became more open in
their attacks on McCarthy.
Good Night and Good Luck
 George
Clooney’s academy award
winning movie, Good Night and
Good Luck chronicles Murrow’s
fight to expose McCarthy’s lies on
national television.
Army Investigations on TV


The senate investigations into the United States
Army were televised and this helped to expose
the tactics of Joseph McCarthy.
One newspaper, the Louisville Courier-Journal,
reported that: "In this long, degrading travesty
of the democratic process McCarthy has shown
himself to be evil and unmatched in malice."
Politicians Stand Up
 Leading
politicians in both parties, had
been embarrassed by McCarthy's
performance and on 2nd December,
1954, a censure motion condemned
his conduct by 67 votes to 22.
McCarthy Censured
The censure report charged McCarthy with
“deliberate deception” and “fraud.”
 The senate said that McCarthy “imitated
Communist methods—that it distorted,
misrepresented, and omitted in its effort to
manufacture rationalization” during the
HUAC attacks on the US military in
November 1954.

McCarthy Disgraced
 McCarthy
lost the chairmanship of the
Government Committee on
Operations of the Senate. He was now
without a power base and the media
lost interest in his claims of a
communist conspiracy.
Cold War
 Although
some historians claim that
this marked the end of McCarthyism,
others argue that the anti-communist
hysteria in the United States lasted
until the end of the Cold War. (1980s)
Sources
 Text
is adapted from
“McCarthyism” by John Simkin,
and the Congressional Censure
document of the 83rd Congress.