1. The Cold War and American Society
Ch 15 Sec 3
The Cold War and American Society

2. The Red Scare
In 1945, Americans started to become very scared because of a man named Igor Gouzenko
Igor had worked at the Soviet embassy in Canada, and he defected (meaning he came to our side) to the US and gave the government a ton of info on what the Soviets had been up to

3. The Red Scare
Igor explained that the Soviets had been working to infiltrate the government and certain groups to find secrets about the atomic bomb
This scared may Americans, and then a great hunt for communist subversives (Americans that favored or supported the Soviet/Communists) started

4. The Loyalty Review Program
Nine days after the establishment of the Truman Doctrine, Truman started the Loyalty Review Program to check all government employees to see if they were communists
Truman’s actions seemed to spread the fear of communism even more

5. The Loyalty Review Program
Employees were screened for viewing certain movies, traveling overseas, belonging to certain groups, and even for what the read
Total: 2,000+ quit because of the questioning, and 212 were fired for “questionable loyalty”

6. House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)
FBI Director Edgar Hoover wanted to search out more communists using the FBI, so he expanded the HUAC which was started in 1938
He was not only after active communists, but also their supporters or “sympathizers”

7. (HUAC)
One of their first trials was on the potential communists in the film industry
There was a group of 10 screenwriters that refused to testify against themselves (5th Amendment) that became known as the “Hollywood Ten”
The result of this trial was 151 actors, directors, writers, and broadcasters getting their names put into a pamphlet call Red Channels = they were then blacklisted and nobody would hire them or work with them

8. Alger Hiss
Hiss had worked for FDR and was even at the Yalta Conference, and he was accused of being a communist by Whittaker Chambers, who was an editor for TIME magazine
Hiss denied it, but was eventually found guilty of lying under oath during the case

9. The Rosenbergs
By 1949 the Soviets had made an atomic bomb, and many believed that they could not have done it on their own, so America started looking for spies
In 1950, the US had tracked down a British scientist who said that he given the Soviets information, after hearing his testimony, the FBI arrested Julius and Ethel Rosenberg

10. The Rosenbergs
The Rosenbergs were then accused of leading a spy ring and selling nuclear secrets to the Soviets
They were found guilty and sentenced to death
Many people protested and believed that they were innocent and just caught up in the anti-communist hype
They were both executed in June 1953

11. Project Venona
What nobody knew was that the government had worked with the British to crack the Soviet codes
Secretly the US had been decoding thousands of messages the Soviet Union and the US
The project itself was called Venona, and the fact that it existed was not released until 1995
Information from the decoding did provide strong evidence that the Rosenbergs were guilty

13. The Red Scare Spreads
Many groups, organizations, and local/state governments followed the federal governments lead in seeking out communists
Everything from unions to churches searched for communists within their ranks
Many employees/members of groups and companies had to take an oath of loyalty to the US so that they could keep their jobs or membership, and those that refused were fired or removed

15. McCarthyism
1949 was a bad year, the Russians got the bomb and China fell to communism, this caused many Americans to believe that the US was losing the Cold War
In 1950, while doing a small speech in West Virginia, Senator Joseph McCarthy made the statement that he had a list of 205 Americans that were spies or communist working in the State Department

16. McCarthyism
McCarthy then used the excitement from his “list” (a list that never appeared or was proven to exist) to do whatever he wanted
McCarthy used the hype to win elections and to speak poorly of anyone he did not like or agree with
It got to the point where people were afraid to speak out for fear of being called a communist

17. Internal Security Act/McCarran Act
The McCarran act made it illegal for people to organize, conspire, or work on “establishing a totalitarian government” in the US
It gave the government the power to take the records of communist groups and to seize all of their information
It also gave the government the power to detain communist or communist sympathizers
Truman vetoed it, he was overridden, and the Supreme Court later limited the power of the act

19. McCarthyism
Republicans won control of Congress in 1952, and this put McCarthy in a position of power to hunt for communists in the government
McCarthy would use weak evidence against the accused, and then harass them during their hearings and not even allow them to answer his question

20. McCarthyism
McCarthy got a lot of publicity and popularity for his tactics and style
People would not speak out against the unfairness and method of his hunt because of fear of being called a communist themselves

21. McCarthy’s Downfall
McCarthy eventually turned his attention to the US Army, and trying to find communists there
These trials were on the news, and people truly started to see what he was doing and how unfair it was to those on trial
McCarthy tried bringing up the past of a young lawyer under Joseph Welch, who exploded in the defense of the young man
The audience cheered as Welch blasted McCarthy, and from that point on, his witch hunts had no validity

22. Life During the Cold War
The fears and circumstances of the Cold War forced many Americans to become more active
This increased activity ranged from preparing to survive a nuclear war to becoming more politically active to prevent nuclear war
All in all Americans were taking notice and action

23. Facing the Bomb
Americans were shocked in 1949 when the Soviets set of their first nuke, but we were even more freaked out when they tested their own H-Bomb (hydrogen) in 1953 just one year after we set of our first

24. Facing the Bomb
The US prepared for an all out surprise nuclear attack from the Soviets
Schools prepared their student by doing “duck and cover” drill, which would have done nothing to save the students from a nuclear blast, but it made everyone feel a little safer

26. Facing the Bomb
Some American prepared fallout shelters incase the survived the initial attack
These fallout shelters were usually well stocked with supplies so that the people inside would be able to survive the radiation or “fallout” that would follow an attack

29. Popular Culture and the Cold War
As you can tell, America was very involved and worried about the Cold War, so it naturally found its way into everything from movies to plays to comics

30. The Crucible
One of the most notable pieces of work from this era was Arthur Miller’s The Crucible that makes a literary relation between the witch hunts of the past and the communist hunts of the 1950’s
The story is a play that is still performed today on Broadway

31. Movies
The movie I Was a Communist for the FBI was about an agent that infiltrated the communist party in Pittsburgh
Walk East on Beacon was another suspense movie based on FBI work while seeking out communist in the US

33. Other Cold War Entertainment
The TV show I Led Three Lives was a week to week show about an FBI agent that was working inside the communist party
The radio played “Atomic Boogie” and “Atom Bomb Baby”
Philip Wylie wrote the book Tomorrow! to tell American about the horrible things that would happen to an American city if it were attacked
Wylie wrote this book because he was angry at the government for not making more shelters for the average person to go to

35. Other Cold War Entertainment
John Hersey wrote the book Hiroshima, which was the story of six people that survived the US atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima
This book made Americans rethink what we did to Japan, and made them think about what it would be like if it happened here

36. Overall
Americans were confused and scared about the Cold War, McCarthyism, atomic attacks, communism, the Korean War and where the US actually stood
On the other hand, the country was very prosperous and confident with the economy doing great as Americans were making and spending more and more money
Leading into the elections of 1952, we were looking for a sense of security and stability