1. Aim #78: What was the Red Scare and how did it impact individual Americans? Do now! Please read “McCarthyism and the Red Scare” and answer the accompanying questions and have out your hw
SENATOR OF WISCONSIN WIDELY KNOWN FOR SPREADING FEAR OF COMMNISTS INFILTRATION IN THE UNITED STATES

2. What were the causes of the 1st Red Scare in the 1920s?
Questions:
What were the causes of the 1st Red Scare in the 1920s?
What activities are taking place in the cartoon that might be perceived as a violation of one’s civil liberties?
How does the 2nd Red Scare of the 1950s compare to the 1st Red Scare of the 1920s?
THE FIRST RED SCARE OF THE 1920S

3. (I) What was the Second Red Scare?
After World War II, wartime alliances broke down
b. definition: widespread fear of communist influence and infiltration in American life
c. Reasons for the 2nd Red Scare:
1. USSR actions after WWII in Eastern Europe (satellite nations)
b. “Fall of China” in 1949
c. Soviet development of nuclear weapons

4. (II) What are some example of Red Scare inspired government Actions?
Loyalty Review Boards: investigated the background of 3 million federal employees
The Smith Act of 1940: Illegal to belong to an organization that advocated the overthrow of the government by force
c. House Un-American Activities Committee
Established at first to seek out Nazis
Used after WWII to search for communists
Search for communists in Hollywood (“Hollywood 10”)
Criticism: violation of people’s 1st amendment rights to express unpopular political views

5. QUESTIONS FOR CONSIDERATION
Who are the people in the car and what is Herb Block saying about them?
2. Do you think it’s possible to reach a consensus on what defines being American or un-American?

6. People that were Investigated included:
Who Am I? Former actor and Governor of California, I eventually became the 40th president of the U.S.
Who am I? I broke the color barrier as the 1st African American baseball player with the Brooklyn Dodgers
Who am I? I created the “happiest place on earth” and produced some of the world’s most memorable movies for children

7. (III) What were examples of Red Scare espionage (spy) cases?
Alger Hiss trial: prominent State department official accused of giving US secrets to communists (convicted of perjury and sent to prison)
Trial contributed to idea that communists had infiltrated the highest levels of government
b. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
When USSR tested their 1st atomic bomb, Americans convinced spies gave them information
Couple was accused of giving nuclear secrets to the Soviets
Found guilty of treason and executed
***synthesis point: some people questioned whether anticommunist hysterical influenced the conviction and execution of the Rosenbergs. Sound familiar???

8. Red Scare fears in America were heightened by the discovery of spies working for the USSR:
State Department employee Alger Hiss was convicted of spying for the USSR
David Greenglass, brother of Ethel Rosenberg who worked on atomic bomb testified against his sister…nice brother!!!
Julius & Ethel Rosenberg were executed for passing atomic bomb secrets to the USSR

9. 1953 Execution

10. (IV) Senator Joseph McCarthy
b. emerged as the leader of the anti-communist Red Scare
c. Army-McCarthy hearings: used public trials to make unsupported accusations against suspected communists in the State Department & the U.S. military (his eventual downfall)

11. Now…please flip over your do now and answer the discussion questions
Now…I happen to be a fan of Melissa McCarthyism 