Did McCarthy Have An Impact?

Question 1

Yes

1 political standing

Answer 1

He was a senator and had influential standing
Used the media-William Randolph Hurst supported him and used his position to spread the message
Republicans made gains in congress in 1946

Question 2

Yes

2 influence in government

Answer 2

3,000 federal employees forced to resign and 300 sacked under Exec Order 9835 (no actual subversion uncovered)
The spread of state anti-subversion laws (39 by 1952)
Hundreds lost their jobs due to blacklists and the HUAC
Only left HAWKS in government who would pursue hard core measures in diplomacy in regards to Russia (lead to Vietnam war?)

Question 3

Yes

3 Hollywood Ten

Answer 3

10 Hollywood film industry people publicly denounced the tactics employed by the HUAC.
They received jail sentences (1947 cited for the contempt of congress) and were banned from working for the major studios
Edward Dmytrijk was imprisoned but later provided the names for 20 “communists”
Increased anxiety

Question 4

No

1 HUAC

Answer 4

HUAC had a bad reputation for being too intrusive into the lives of US citizens
HUAC’s chairman John Rankin was likened to a Nazi

Question 5

No

2 other influences on Red Scare

Answer 5

The trial of Hiss was completed by the time of McCarthy’s prominence and the aftermath of the trial has died down
The Hiss verdict, soviet bomb and China’s fall to communism created made hysteria

Question 6

No

3 Downfall of McCarthy

Answer 6

McCarthy tried to claim there was disloyalty in the army and in the CIA but this was a step too far-the republicans began to distance themselves from him

Question 7

HUAC

Answer 7

House Un-American Activities Committee

Created in 1938 in order to uncover citizens with communist or nazi ties in the US

Question 8

Alger Hiss

Answer 8

Accused of being a communist by Whittaker Chambers
Chambers later accused him of espionage
The trial got attention because he was an ex UN official
Was convicted of perjury in 1950
Maintained he was innocent