Alger Hiss and the Rosenbergs

1. Alger Hiss and the Rosenbergs Killian Petetti

2. Facts • Alger Hiss was discovered to be a communist by the HUAC in the 1930s • Hiss was the epitome of communists (lawyer, Harvard, worked for FDR , etc.) • Hiss denied all of the claims • He was seen innocent by liberals but not conservatives • Truman denounced Chamber’s allegation as a “red hearing”

3. Facts • Chambers also blamed him of espionage • Hiss gave Chambers gov’t documents and he kept them • Hiss was charged with perjury • Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were arrested for espionage charges • Some Americans found them to be innocentbut they were sentenced to death • In 1990, Soviet documents prove Julius did espionage

4. Summary • The Cold War scared many Americans and it made many people worried about espionage. People who had any suspicious activity were put on trial to see if they were communists or Soviet spies. People were even able to be put to death.

5. Key Terms • Alger Hiss and Whittaker Chambers • Julius and Ethel Rosenberg

6. Pics

7. Pics

8. Discussion Question • What could of happened if we did not catch Julius Rosenburg? What secrets could he have stole? Would those secrets have risked national saftey?

9. Alger Hiss and The Rosenburgs By: Jack Brown

10. Alger Hiss • He was an American lawyer, government official, lecturer, and author • Accused of being a Soviet spy • Convicted of purgery • Whittaker Chambers (former communist) testified that Hiss was a communist but not a spy • When Whittaker said this on the radio, Hiss filed a law suit • Then Whittaker admitted to being involved in espionage with Hiss • Sentenced to ten years in prison • Died after 3 years and always claimed to by innocent

11. The Rosenburgs • Charged with espionage • Accused of giving info about nuclear weapons to Soviets • The hard evidence that confirmed that Julius Rosenburg was a spy was only let out in 1995 • Decoded Soviet cables are what confirmed the espionage • Cables did not prove Ethel Rosenburg guilty • She was executed anyway • Entire trial consisted of scientist Klaus Fuchs, Harry Gold, David Greenglass, and the Rosenburgs • Only rosenburgs were executed because all other spy’s gave Americans info about the other spy’s

12. Summary Both Alger Hiss and the Rosenburgs were registered American citizens accused with espionage. During the time of the cold war, the threat of a Soviet attack made some paranoid accusations of espionage were flying left and right and some of the people who caught the bad end of it were Alger Hiss and the Rosenburgs. The conviction of these people only furthered the anxiety of a Soviet attack now with the Americans knowing that they cant trust anyone.

13. Key Terms Alger Hiss and Whittaker Chambers- First two people to be involved with an espionage case Julius and Ethel Rosenburg- coconspirators in a wartime spy network

16. Discussion Do you think the severity of the crimes committed were a little exaggerated due to it being a war-time? Was it right for Whittaker Chambers to not be charged while Hiss went to prison?

17. Loyalty and security&The Anticommunist Crusade By: Samson Tessema

18. Key Terms • House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) - Committee that held hearings to expose communist influence in American life

19. Facts • The Communist Party claimed 80,000 members during World War II • Truman issued Executive Order 9835, establishing the Federal Employee Loyalty Program • People were fired for “Reasonable grounds for belief that the person is disloyal” • 4.7 million jobholders and applicants underwent loyalty checks by 1952 • Some people lost jobs for associating with radical friends or had once belonged to organizations now declared disloyal

20. Facts • By the end of Truman’s presidency, 39 states had loyalty programs • School teachers, professors, and state and city employees were forced to sign loyalty oaths • The HUAC frightened the labor movement and made them avoid progressive causes • The Supreme Court Case (Dennis v. United States) allowed the curtailment of freedom of speech for national security purposes • The Communist Party was fading as the politicians magnified its threat

21. Summary • Loyalty had a major impact on the everyday lives of millions of Americans. It scared many Americans and companies into background checks and many were fired because of loyalty. The First Amendment rights were violated but the Supreme Court ruled it okay because it was for national security purposes. Later, however, the Anticommunist Crusade was used a political tool to frame progressives as communists.

24. Discussion Question • Do you feel it was okay for the government to curtail freedom of speech for national security purposes?

25. The Fair Deal&The politics of Anticommunism Kj McBride

26. The Fair Deal • Truman proposed a Fair deal agenda that included civil rights, health-care, and federal aid • Based on the belief in continual economic growth • Enacted the Displaced Persons act of 1948 • Raised hourly minimum wage from 40 to 75 cents • Increased social-security benefits and coverage • Expanded appropriations for public power, conservation, and slum clearance • Authorized the construction of nearly a million low-income houses

27. The Politics of Anticommunism • A second red scare began • Some Americans concluded that the nations difficulties lay in domestic treason and subversion • The House Un-American Activities committee served as a platform for right-wing denunciations of the new deal as a communist plot

28. Summary The fair deal had many new provisions and aids for Americans and would help with many of Americas post war problems. The congress rejected a large portion of the deal and was afraid of communist plots involved. Many people and things were impaired in this period of time because of the fear of communism.

29. Key Terms • Fair Deal - an ambitious set of proposals put forward by United States President Harry S. Truman to the United States Congress in his January 1949 State of the Union address. • Second Red Scare – AKA: McCarthyism - fear of communist espionage

32. Discussion questions • What issues were found in Truman's Fair Deal? • What could be added or taken away from it to make it better? • Why was everyone so afraid of the communists?

33. Politics of Civil Rights &Election of 1948 Morgan Gilmer

34. Politics of Civil Rights • War heightened expectations of African-Americans for equality • Many pushed for fair employment and outlawing of lynching • Southern whites reacted brutally • Truman said he would act to help African Americans • Established President’s Committee on Civil Rights

35. Election of 1948 • Considered the greatest election upset in American history • Truman endorsed weak civil-rights bill to keep Southern support after founding President’s Committee on Civil Rights • Lost Democrat support because of anti-Soviet policies • Eisenhower was urged to run but did not want to • Dixiecrats– hoped to restore “southern way of life” • Dewey decided to run in conservative manner because he already had many votes • Truman took to the road to help rebuild the broken up Democrats • Truman shockingly won the election

36. Summary After World War II, African Americans returned hoping to have equal rights. They were met with protests and resistance from conservatives. Truman tried to help them, but he decided to run in 1948 with a weak Civil Rights plan to keep Southern support. Everyone expected the win in the election to go to Thomas Dewey, but Truman was reelected with help from the moderate Democrats because of global affairs and the radical ways of the opposing parties.

37. Key Terms • President’s Committee on Civil Rights

38. Politics of Civil Rights

39. Election of 1948

40. Discussion What events and conditions in America allowed the moderate Truman to beat the radical Thomas Dewey in the election of 1948?

41. The Truman Administration at Home, 1945-1952andThe Eightieth Congress, 1947-1948 Miriam van der Spek

42. Truman Facts • Family and career, not public issues, interested most Americans. • 2nd and 3rd generation white Americans began to reject liberals at the polls. • Voters cared more about the growing crime rate and the decline in family authority than about the civil rights of African-Americans. • They feared communist subversives, not the loss of civil liberties. • Anticommunism was wanted, and people wanted victory in the Cold War, not a standstill like what was occurring.

43. Congress Facts • Massive post-war strikes created a national consensus for curbing union power. • In 1947, more than 20 states passed laws restricting union activity and Congress passed the Taft-Hartly act (Labor-Management Relations Act). • The act weakened organizing drives in the nonunion South and West (relocating labor intensive industries from Northeast and Midwest),and also drove leftists from CIO positions of power (weakening organized labor as a force for social justice). • Truman vetoed the bill in hopes of gaining voters for the 1948 election, but Congress overrode his opposition. • Congress defeated Democratic bill to raise the minimum wage and to provide federal funds for education and housing.

44. Key Terms • Truman none • Congress Taft-Hartly Act

45. Summery The Truman Administration sparked many new ideals. People in America began to worry more about themselves then the good overall. Conservative views began to replace the former liberal ones, and civil rights and unemployment no longer mattered. What they wanted was a victory in the Cold War, a decline in crime and a rise in family authority and lower taxes. They wanted an administration who would cost them little, and didn’t worry about whether justice was served or not. In the Eightieth Congress, many appeals from democrats were shot down, while congress worked to pass the Taft-Hartly Act, an act that would weaken unions and give the power to the government to call off any strike. Truman vetoed this bill, but was eventually over-ruled. Truman’s main reason for this was the want to be re-elected in the 1948 elections. His want for re-election also caused him to stress opposition for the Iron Curtain, over-rode objections of the state department, and widely offered sympathies to Holocaust and War survivors.

46. Truman Administration Pictures

47. The Eightieth Congress Pictures

48. Discussion Question How did the Taft-Hartly Act affect America in the 1940s?

49. The Korean War Jack Wheatley

50. Facts • Anti-Communist South Korean strength: 972,214 (326,863 Americans) • Communist North Korean strength: 1,642,600 • Lasted June 25th, 1950-July 27th,1983 • First armed conflict in the global struggle between democracy and communism(Cold War) • Gen. Douglas MacArthur was declared commander of the U.N. forces supporting South Korea, but was later replaced after publicly criticizing U.S. policy and threatening the Chinese with massive retaliation.