the red scare and mccarthyism (civil rights unit 1)

• overall impact of mccarthyism


  damaged the american way of life and contributed to the feeling of paranoia, many government workers ( engineers, technicians, scientists ) lost their jobs, people with left wing views were treated with suspicion - seen as disloyal, politicians had to strongly oppose communism to get elected
• the downfall of mccarthy


  by 1953 his campaign was losing impact, he accused members of the US army of being communist - ridiculous accusation because they had just fought a war, when his investigations were televised he was seen to be an aggressive bully, drunk and often had no real evidence, he was sacked from his role in congress in 1954
• methods used by mccarthy

  didnt work for the government but positioned himself as an expert on identifying communists in the USA, in 1950, McCarthy claimed (unproven) that 205 Communists were secretly working for the State Department, he would use his influence in congress and accuse many others of secretly being communist and working to weaken the USA and its position in the world
• huac and the hollywood ten


  -house of un-American activities committee-committee of the US Congress and its job was to interview and investigate people who it thought had "un-American" (communist) ideas and beliefs-in 1947, HUAC decided to focus its attention on the Hollywood movie industry-believed it was spreading communist ideas-hundreds of writers, directors, producers and actors were publicly interviewed by HUAC-however ten individual writers and directors pleaded the 5th amendment (they did not have to answer questions that might incriminate themselves)-refused to answer the question about whether they were or had ever been a member of the US communist party-guilty of contempt of court for refusing to answer their questions-all ten were jailed for one year-difficult to get jobs when they were released and colleagues were frightened of being associated with them for fear of being accused of being communist themselves
• the fbi

  -lead by Edgar Hoover-nationwide/federal police force of the USA-its job was to protect the American way of life such as preventing a communist takeover in the USA-During the Red Scare, the FBI was given increased powers to investigate suspected communists-Federal Loyalty Boards were set up and the FBI interviewed and questioned 3 million federal government workers, especially in industries like atomic energy and weapons defence-over 3000 workers were forced to resign-300 were sacked from their job- most of them were sacked because they were/had been members of organisations suspected of holding communist or left wing views.
• the Rosenberg trial

  -Julius and Ethel Rosenberg worked as scientists on the American atomic bomb project-in 1950, they were accused of spying and giving atomic secrets to the Soviet Union-found guilty and sentenced to death-spent 2 years of death row and had 2 sons who were orphaned when they were executed-executed in 1953-heightened the Red Scare and the fear that communists were working in the US government
• alger hiss


  -worked for the state department in 1948 - accused of spying an passing secret information about the USA to the Soviet Union - he denied being a spy - Nixon found evidence of microfilm hidden in a pumpkin on a Maryland farm. - The microfilm contained documents that were typed out by a typewriter belonging to Alger Hiss. - he was also accused of perjury (lying in court)-jailed for 5 years - convinced many Americans that communists had infiltrated the highest levels of the US Government.
• truman doctrine


  -US give millions of dollars to countries at risk of communism-did this to prevent extremists from taking over
• marshall plan


  -promised to aid European countries at risk of communism to help rebuild their economies-the USA was worried that if western Europe remained weak, it may be vulnerable to communism
• the cold war

  -USA and USSR began a cold war in 1945-fought by spreading their capitalist and communist beliefs and competing to build nuclear weapons-between 1945-1947 Stalin took over most countries in Eastern Europe-In 1948, Stalin attempted to take control of capitalist West Berlin-1949, China became communist, Soviet Union developed its own atomic bomb-1950- communist North Korea tried taking over capitalist South Korea-It appeared the 'reds' were taking over the world
• reasons for the red scare

  -cold war began the 2 superpowers: USA and the Soviet Union-red scare- fear in the USA that communism would infect the capitalist American way of life-events in the USA showed fear amongst many Americans-Soviet Union developed their first atomic bomb in 1949 after the USA in 1945-