The Cold War at Home Section 16.4

Cold War and Culture Fighting in Korea “lost” of China “Space Race” Threat of nuclear weapons Spread of Communism into Eastern Europe, China, North Korea, Cuba Add it all up = US vs. Them

Another Red Scare? FEDERAL EMPLOYEE LOYALTY PROGRAM (March 1947) – Permitted the FBI (and other agencies) to screen federal employees for political disloyalty – Attorney General made lists of “totalitarian, fascist, or subversive organizations” – 3,000 people fired or laid off from the gov’t

The Smith Act Made it illegal to teach the violent overthrow of the US gov’t – 11 found guilty in NY and imprisoned – Crippled the Communist Party

House Un-American Activities Commission (HUAC) Created in WWII to find Nazis, re-tasked to find communists in the Red Scare Investigated gov’t, military, unions, schools, media, science

The Hollywood 10 HUAC accuses 10 in Hollywood of being communists They claim 5 th Amendment rights – you are not able to say something that will incriminate yourself Prison and Blacklisting

Watkins vs. United States (1957) Supreme Court decided witnesses before HUAC could not be forced to name radicals they knew

The Case of Oppenheimer Manhattan Project Planner Head of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission But…his wife and brother were members of the communist party He was denied access to classified information – No evidence

Let the Spy Games Begin Alger Hiss – Educated at Johns Hopkins University – Important gov’t official Worked on New Deal, helped organize UN – Accused by converted agent (Whittaker Chambers) Hiss denied he knew Chambers – Richard Nixon leads the case against him – Convicted to 5 years in prison

The Rosenbergs Convicted for passing atomic secrets to the Soviets during WWII – Contact was British physicist Klaus Fuchs Fuchs confessed that Harry Gold was the courier he passes his information to – Gold turned in David Greenglass Greenglass then confessed and turned in his sister and brother-in-law Ethel and Julius Rosenberg Some claimed they were scapegoats; others that they got what they deserved

1947 & American Espionage CIA and NSA (National Security Council) created to spy on the Soviets FBI created in 1935

The Media’s Response Wave of Anti-Red movies and books released – Like “Is This Tomorrow”, “Red Planet Mars”, “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”

McCarthyism February 1950 – Joseph R. McCarthy from Wisconsin claimed he had a list of communist members of the gov’t – Hundreds imprisoned, thousand lost their jobs Accuses those who complain – Fear in the US – Ruthless in his tracking down of “communists”

McCarran Act of 1950 Forced communist political groups to register with gov’t Subversive Activities Control Board (SACB) investigated membership – No foreign members – Citizens found could lose citizenship Allowed for detention of dangerous, disloyal, or subversive persons

The Army Hearings Using Korean War, McCarthy goes after the army for being “infiltrated” – Televised bullying Eisenhower angry McCarthy censured End of Korean War 1953 and McCarthy’s downfall in 1954 signaled the end of the Red Scare