8.3 Flashcards
Red Scare
2nd Red Scare after WWII & people believed communism caused conflict in Asia and Europe. People feared communist spies and culture, politics, and society was affected. Ended because people realized fear was overblown, Eisenhower controlled political dialogue, and the Korean War armistice led to economic boom.
Loyalty Review Board
- 1947–1951
- Truman created to investigate the background of more than 3 million federal employees. Thousands of officials and civil service employees either resigned or lost their jobs.
Smith Act of 1940
Made it illegal to advocate or teach the overthrow of the government by force or to belong to an organization with this objective.
Dennis et al. v. United States
- 1951
- Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Smith Act of 1940.
McCarran Internal Security Act
- (1950)
- (Truman vetoed but passed anyways)
- Made it unlawful to advocate or support the establishment of a totalitarian government
restricted the employment and travel of those joining Communist-front organizations.
authorized the creation of detention camps for subversives.
House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)
originally established in 1939
to seek out Nazis & reactivated in the postwar years to find Communists by investigating government officials and organizations (boy scouts & movie industry). Testify in court or blacklist.
Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman
-1948
- Had anti-American ideals (communistic)
Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical South Pacific
- (1949)
- Communistic assault on racial segregation.
Communism Attacks Freedom of Expression
- Loyalty oaths for employments
- The American Civil Liberties Union (and others) argued that 1st Amendment protect freedom of speech (even for communists)
“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson
- (1948)
- short story about a town whose citizens blindly accept a tradition even though it has deadly consequences.
- Called by HUAC in 1952 - Jackson refused and got blacklisted
The Crucible by Arthur Miller
- (1953)
- play about the Salem witch trials (partial metaphor for the government’s persecution of suspected Communists)
Whittaker Chambers
Communist that exposed Alger Hiss during the Hiss Case.
Hiss Case
- (1948)
- Whittaker Chambers testified along with the investigative work of a Richard Nixon (congress member) for the trial of Alger Hiss (prominent official in the State Department).
Hiss had assisted Roosevelt at the Yalta Conference. He denied the accusations that he was a Communist that gave secret documents to Chambers. In 1950 he was convicted of perjury and sent to prison. - Significance: Made Americans wonder if the highest levels of government were infiltrated by Communist spies.
Rosenberg Case
- (1951)
- Klaus Fuchs, a British scientist who had worked on the Manhattan Project, admitted giving A-bomb secrets to the Russians. An FBI investigation traced another spy ring to Julius and Ethel Rosenberg in New York. They were found guilty and executed in 1953.
- Happened because Americans thought there was a spy giving away info after soviets tested their first atomic bomb (1949)
Joseph McCarthy
- Senator that used the growing concern over communism to advance his political career. He used a continuous stream of communist accusations to discredit Truman. He became one of the most powerful leaders even though his claims weren’t proven.
- In a speech in 1950, he claimed to have a list of 205 Communists who were working for the State Department.
- Were often aimed at the wealthy and privileged in society.
- Republicans disliked but accusations mainly harmed Democrats
