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McCarthyism Flashcards

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1
Q

What was allowed under the 1947 Federal Employee Loyalty Program?

A

Government employees were subjected to security checks - their loyalty was questioned if they belonged to organisations with liberal ideas on race, disarmament or workers’ rights as well as the communist party. People were forced out of their jobs.

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2
Q

Who was Alger Hiss and what was he accused of?

A

He was a former senior member of the US State Department and he was accused of spying and passing secrets to the USSR.

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3
Q

What happened to Alger Hiss?

A

He was imprisoned for lying in court in 1950 for five years.

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4
Q

What was the Red Scare?

A

Concerns about communism had started to cause a climate of fear and panic in the USA. It was a fear that communists were going to take over the USA.

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5
Q

What does HUAC stand for?

A

The House of Un-American Activities Committee.

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6
Q

What did HUAC do?

A

It was set up to investigate subversive (trying to destroy or damage something - especially and established political system) activities and during the 1940s and 1950s it became focused on finding communists in the USA.

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7
Q

Who did HUAC begin questioning in 1947?

A

The film industry.

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8
Q

What was the Hollywood Ten?

A

A group of directors and writers who refused to answer the questions posed by HUAC as they defended themselves with the first amendment (freedom to believe what they wanted), as a result, they were blacklisted (meaning they would not be offered work in the industry again) and jailed. Some then went to Europe to try and find work.

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9
Q

Where else did blacklisting occur?

A

In schools, universities and broadcasting.

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10
Q

What does FBI stand for?

A

Federal Bureau of Investigation.

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11
Q

Who was the director of the FBI?

A

J Edgar Hoover.

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12
Q

What did the director of the FBI do?

A

He kept thousands of secret dossiers on left-wing activists and thinkers, including six Nobel prize-winning authors.

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13
Q

What did the FBI do?

A

It conducted loyalty probes of millions of government employees.

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14
Q

What was McCarthyism?

A

The period of time when senator McCarthy took advantage of people being so afraid of communism and launched a witch-hunt.

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15
Q

What did McCarthy’s speech in 1950 include?

A

He waved a list of 205 people in the State Department who he believed to be communist. He claimed that some of them were giving information to the USSR thus putting them at risk.

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16
Q

Were McCarthy’s accusations ever proved?

A

No, however newspapers published his allegations and many people believed him.

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17
Q

How did McCarthy destroy the careers of thousands of people?

A

He investigated possible communists and during senate meetings he intimidated witnesses and pressured people to accuse others.

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18
Q

What happened to the Rosenbergs?

A

In 1951, two members of the US Communist Party were convicted of passing atomic secrets to the Russians. They were executed in 1953.

19
Q

What made McCarthy’s activities possible?

A

The existing climate of fear - China had gone communist and the Russians had the bomb.

20
Q

Who did McCarthy accuse in 1953?

A

The army of covering up communist infiltration.

21
Q

What turned pubic opinion against McCarthy?

A

His bullying of witnesses in televised Army-McCarthy hearings in 1954.

22
Q

What happened to McCarthy?

A

In December 1954, his senate colleagues finally voted to censure him.

23
Q

What did the Communist Control Act in 1954 allow for?

A

Dismissal from the civil service for political beliefs.

24
Q

What was the cold war?

A

A period of intense conflict between the USA and the USSR. There was no direct military fighting - it was more a confrontation based on differences in ideology, battle for resources and struggles for influence in the third world.

25
Q

What was the impact of the Hollywood Ten?

A

It made people think that films would start to brainwash the public as they would influence them and the fact that they questioned famous stars shows that the situation was serious.

26
Q

What was the impact of Alger Hiss?

A

It made people think that if the government are traitors then you couldn’t trust anyone. It increased paranoia making people think that they were everywhere.

27
Q

What was the impact of the Rosenbergs?

A

It showed that if people went against the government then they would be killed and that the USSR was closer to spreading communism.

28
Q

What did the McCarran Act allow for?

A

It was an internal security act that could put communists in detention camps, communist organisations had to be registered, members were finger printed and communists could not have US passports or work in defence.

29
Q

What was the impact of the McCarran Act?

A

It showed people that it was now legally bad to be communist, it isolated communists and it legalised discrimination.

30
Q

What led to the investigation of Alger Hiss?

A

When Whittaker Chambers faced HUAC as he admitted he was a communist, he then claimed that Alger Hiss had been a member of his party.

31
Q

What do historians now think about the Rosenbergs?

A

That they were in fact guilty as they discovered coded telegrams.

32
Q

When was the McCarran Act introduced?

A

1950

33
Q

What led to the creation of the McCarran Act?

A

The Hiss and Rosenberg cases.

34
Q

Why did Truman oppose the McCarran Act?

A

It mocked the Bill of Rights.

35
Q

What did senator Tydings call McCarthy’s charges?

A

A fraud and a hoax.

36
Q

What was the result of Tydings accusations?

A

McCarthy went against him and charged him with communist sympathies.

37
Q

Who were the majority of his accusations against once people had started to criticise him?

A

His personal and political enemies, including people who had spoken against him in the press.

38
Q

Which army officer did he bully that was considered to be a second world war hero?

A

General Zwicker

39
Q

When was the communist party officially banned?

A

1954

40
Q

Why did McCarthy fall?

A

His allegations were becoming more and more wild and his evidence was more obviously faked.

41
Q

When did the Korean war start?

A

1950

42
Q

What was the Alien Registration Act?

A

It is illegal to be linked with any organisation willing to overthrow the government.

43
Q

When was the Alien Registration Act introduced?

A

1940

History (12 decks)

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