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The Red Scare : Hysteria. In the 1950’s, communism was not an imagined enemy, it had concrete shape in the form of the Soviet Union and Joseph Stalin. Many hindrances were encountered in America’s fight against communism: The Korean deadlock The defeat of China
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The Red Scare : Hysteria • In the 1950’s, communism was not an imagined enemy, it had concrete shape in the form of the Soviet Union and Joseph Stalin. • Many hindrances were encountered in America’s fight against communism: • The Korean deadlock • The defeat of China • The development of the Atomic bomb by the Soviets • People were searching for somebody to blame, and many were drawn to the suggestion of a communist conspiracy among the American nation. • State and local governments, the judiciary, schools and universities, labor unions – all sought to rid themselves of real or imagined subversives. • -fear of being suspected of ties with communists.
Joseph McCarthy • National spotlight shone first on McCarthy in 1950, when he made a speech in Wheeling, W.Va. He declared he had a list of 205 Communists working in the State Department. • In the 1950’s, he became the most visible public face during a period of extreme anti-communism tensions. Republican US Senator from Wisconsin
McCarthyism… • Is characterized by uncontrollable, and unproven accusations, as well as public attacks on the character or patriotism of political opponents
In the summer of 1954, a branch of the American Legion denounced the Girl Scouts, calling the "one world" ideas advocated in their publications "un-American."
House of Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) • In search of an issue to attack the Democratic party with, the Republican-controlled Congress established the House of Un-American Activities Committee with the goal to prove that the government under Democratic rule, had tolerated communist sedition. • A committee that was made up of the U.S. House of Representatives, was created to investigate treachery and subversive associations. (1938–75)
“Hollywood Ten” • The movie industry was the first to be attacked by HUAC, claiming that communists had broke into Hollywood and polluted America with propaganda. • Writers and producers were called to testify and when some refused to answer questions about their own political views, they were jailed for their disdain. Herbert Biberman, Martin Popper, Robert W. Kenny, Albert Maltz, Lester Cole, Dalton Trumbo, John Howard Lawson, Alvah Bessie, Samuel Ornitz, Ring Lardner Jr., Edward Dmytryk, Adrian Scott.
HUAC Hearings (Click on individual pictures to read on!) “I have turned down quite a few scripts because I thought they were tinged with communistic ideas.” “We have exposed their lies when we came across them, we have opposed their propaganda...” Gary Cooper Ronald Reagan “Nobody has stated just what they mean by propaganda. I use the term to mean anything which gives a good impression of communism as a way of life.” “They looked at a lot of our pictures, and I think they ran a lot of them in Russia, but then turned them back to us ... They didn't suit their purposes.” Ayn Rand Walt Disney
Alger Hiss Trial - Background • Alger Hiss was a tall, handsome Harvard-trained lawyer with an impeccable family background. Whittaker Chambers was a short, stocky, and rumpled Columbia drop-out and confessed former Communist from a poor and troubled Philadelphia family. • According to Chambers, Hiss was a devoted Communist engaged in espionage, even while working at the highest levels of the United States government. Hiss’ story was very different, claiming unwavering loyalty and denying even membership in the Communist Party.
Alger Hiss’ Word Vs. Whittaker Chamber’s Testimony Alger Hiss Whittaker Chambers
Who Was Lying? • One member of the Committee, however, wanted to continue with the investigation. Congressmen Richard Nixon found Hiss "patronizing" and "insulting in the extreme." Hiss's Eastern Ivy League pedigree and style offended Nixon, a Whittier College graduate and the product of working-class parents. With some reluctance, the Committee voted to make Nixon chair of a subcommittee that would seek to determine who was lying, Hiss or Chambers, at least on the question of whether they knew each other. • Through intense questioning on both ends, and the release of the Pumpkin Papers, it was soon uncovered that Hiss and Chambers had in fact been in close relations. • Pumpkin Papers were a series of documents turned into the Hiss case committee by Chambers that consisted of various evidences that placed Hiss in serious danger of criminal charge. • He was charged with two counts of perjury and several years in prison
Federal Loyalty Program • 1947 - In an effort to shield itself from Republican attacks, the Truman administration began a widely publicized program to review the loyalty of federal employees • 1950 – Truman approved agencies to fire people believed to have no more than “bad security risks” • 1951 – Over 2,000 government employees resigned under pressure and 212 were discharged
McCarran Act • Congress passed the Internal Security Act of 1950 that required all communist associations to register with the Attorney General and to make public all records. • Subversive Activities Control Board (SACB) - tightened alien exclusion and deportation laws, allowing for the arrest of dangerous, disloyal, or subversive persons in times of war or "internal security emergency" • J. Edgar Hoover – director of Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) • Investigated and harassed alleged radicals
FBI • June 1950 – 3 former FBI agents and a right-wing television producer, Vincent Harnett, published Red Channels • McCarthy also began receiving information from his friend, J. Edgar Hoover. William Sullivan, one of Hoover's agents, later admitted, "We were the ones who made the McCarthy hearings possible. We fed McCarthy all the material he was using."
The FBI, under J. Edgar Hoover, helped provide the committee with material from its aptly named ‘raw files'. Some producers, directors and screen writers refused to testify or to play the ‘name game' in which the committee demanded the names of associates, who could then be called on to name others thus providing an ever-expanding list of suspects to be summoned.
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg • Paranoia was increasing among the American nation because: • The explosion of an atom bomb by Russia • The invasion of South Korea by the Communist North Koreans and Chinese • The numerous revelations and confessions of former communists and professed spies • The intensity of the McCarthy mentality of the times • Klaus Fuchs validated these fears when he confessed to have given the Russians information on the construction of the bomb. • From the beginning, the trial attracted a high amount of media attention, but unlike the trial of Alger Hiss, there was no single public expression of doubt as to their guilt in any media before and during the trial because of the immense fear in the heart of every American. • The Rosenbergs were convicted on March 29, 1951, and sentenced to death under Section 2 of the Espionage Act.
Importance • Heightened American’s fears • Cast the suspicion that communism had in fact crept into the US government. • Projected an unknown California congressman named Richard Nixon to national fame • Set the stage for Senator Joseph McCarthy's infamous Communist-hunting • Marked the creation of a conservative intellectual and political movement that would put Nixon and Reagan in the White House
Modern “Witch Hunts”? • In more recent times, when have we allowed our fears to bypass the values of freedom and fairness that we profess as Americans?
