The Red Scare and McCarthyism

Question 1

Why did the USA have a right to be suspicious over communism?

Answer 1

1941 - 221 Soviet Agents reported back to NKVD (USSR police).
Soviety Army Intelligence - reported back to Red Army.
Stalin knew more about the top-secret atom bomb Manhattan project than Truman.
Often portrayed as irrational.
BUT - ‘not a figment of imagination’ = George Keenan.
SCARE FACTOR: 2/3.

Question 2

Who was Igor Gouzenko?

Answer 2

Cypher clerk defection - Igor Gouzenko - 1945.
Highlighted leaked secrets to USSR e.g. use of sleeper agents/atom bomb.
USSR traitor.
His family was being sent back to communist USSR.
SCARE FACTOR: 2/3.

Question 3

How did Russia’s society change in 1945?

Answer 3

New totalitarian regime - USA liberal democracy threatened.
Appalling Human Rights record.
Happened just when Hitler attacked Russia.
Foreign policy - suspicion.

Question 4

What was the HUAC?

‘The Committee’

Answer 4

The House Un-American Activities Committee - 1938.
John Rankin, Mississippi - head.
Dealt with the possibility of subversion by Nazi sympathisers.
Established due to Alger Hiss trial.
FDR administration - dealt with threats with FBI advice.
‘Are you now, or have you ever been, a member of the Communist Party?’

Question 5

What was Executive Order 9835?

Answer 5

Due to communist subversion/government penetration.
Established the Federal Loyalty Board - 1947.
Created anti-red opportunities - lives scrutinised.
Investigators had to find ‘reasonable grounds’ to suspect individuals.

Question 6

What happened as a result of Executive Order 9835?

Answer 6

Everyone looked guilty.
1947-1951 - 3,000 government employees forced to resign.
300 dismissed.
3 million investigated.
150 organisations banned.

Question 7

How did the HUAC gain a bigger profile?

Answer 7

1947-1951 - targeted Hollywood - ‘Hollywood 10’.
WW2 - many pro-Russia films were created.
Communist sympathies - Hollywood infiltration?
Actor Frederic March - against persecution.
Charlie Chaplin exiled.
Subpoena powers - HAVE to appear in court - stopped 1975.
Guilty until proven innocent.
1954 - second black list - 350 individuals who wouldn’t be employed in the film industry.
Interviewed 41 - 19 named.

Question 8

What was the Red Scare like in terms of politics?

Answer 8

Republican party lost 5 successive Presidential elections.
1946 - massive congressional success.
1948 - defeat shock.
Republican Richard Nixon - national reputation for pursuing suspected communist SD agent, Alger Hiss.

Question 9

What was the ‘loss of China’ to communism blamed on?

Answer 9

1949 - led by Mao Zedong.
Weak individuals by the right wing press.
China Lobby - USA group - support China nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek.
Felt Truman should’ve given more support.
SCARE FACTOR: 2/3.

Question 10

What were Truman’s critics chatting regarding the atom bomb?

Answer 10

Advisers Marshall and Acheson called Truman weak-minded.
Soviet atomic bomb 1949 - confirmed spy fears.
Directed by Igor Kurchatov.
‘First Lightning’ - first bomb test.
Communist espionage helped aid Russia.
SCARE FACTOR: 1/3.
- both competing to create hydrogen bomb.

Question 11

Who was Arthur Miller?

Answer 11

The Crucible author.
Linked Red Scare to 17th century Massachusetts - Salem 1692 witch trials.
Captured public hysteria.

Question 12

What are some WW2 paranoia examples?

Answer 12

Wartime patriotism.
Led to paranoia and violated civil liberties.
E.g. Japanese American treatment.
Thousands forcibly moved from West Coast to camps - 1941-1942.

Question 13

Who was William Randolph Hearst?

Answer 13

First US media magnate.
Popular journalist pioneer.
Backed HUAC - against communism.
Owned 23 newspapers.
Several magazines e.g. Good Housekeeping.
Helped create communist frenzy.

Question 14

Who was Alger Hiss?

Answer 14

Dean Acheson (Secretary of State) - personal friend.
Supplied USSR with secrets - Yalta 1945.
1948 - accused by a self-confessed Communist.
Series of denials - prosecuted for perjury (lying under oath).
Uncovered evidence of Hiss handing over secret documents to USSR in 1938.
1949 - 1st trial - no verdict.
1950 - 2nd trial - found guilty - jailed for 5 years.

Question 15

What happened as a result of Hiss being found guilty in general?

Answer 15

Red Scare boost.
1945-1950 - most spies rounded up by FBI.
Truman tightened up with increased loyalty tests.
Excessive security - 1947-1948.
1950 - new found awareness of Russian bomb/China ‘loss’ - hysteria peak.
SCARE FACTOR: 2.5/3 - but WITH Fuchs/Gold had a bigger impact SO 2/3.

Question 16

What happened after Hiss being found guilty?

Answer 16

Few days later.
Klaus Fuchs - German-born British scientist - worked on Manhattan atom bomb project - sentenced for leaking secrets to USSR.
Harry Gold - arrested on the same charge in the USA.

Question 17

How did the cases of Hiss and Fuchs affect the Democrats?

Answer 17

‘The Communist conspiracy’.
Acheson and General Marshall - repeatedly attacked.
SCARE FACTOR: 2/3.

Question 18

What was the background of Senator McCarthy?

Answer 18

Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin.
Voted worst Senator by Washington press correspondents.
Few political friends - even in his own Republican party.
1950 - dinner friend suggested he’d launch campaign against communist infiltration - raise his profile.

Question 19

How many communists were in the SD, and why?

Answer 19

List of names - 205 - faulty arithmetic.
Former US Secretary of State, James Byrnes - admitted 285 security risks.
79 fired - left 206.
Identified during preliminary 3,000 screening.
Some were communists, others alcoholics/sexual deviants.

Question 20

How effective was McCarthy’s anti-communist campaign?

Answer 20

Fellow Republicans, and even Senate/House Democrats were sympathetic.
JFK sympathetic - had large amount of anti-communist constituents.
Many US Catholics had relatives in Eastern Europe in Hungary/Poland under USSR rule - opposed Soviets.

Question 21

What ‘secret weapon’ did McCarthy possess?

Answer 21

Traitor list - especially SD.
Effectively used press/radio - created hysteria.
Uneducated paranoia - heard of evil Stalin/atom bomb.
Political froth.

Question 22

Why did the McCarthy campaign increase after congressional Republican success in 1950, and what did McCarthy do in 1953?

Answer 22

Political weapon to embarrass Democratic Truman.
Accused Truman, George Marshall and Dean Acheson of being soft on communism.
1953 - Chairman of the Government Committee on Operations of the Senate - established to scrutinise government activity.
Publicity drive against ‘commies’,
Witch hunts.
Rights ignored - 5th Amendment (right to silence) - guilt admission.

Question 23

What was the foreign context of the Red Scare?

Answer 23

Humiliating US defeat by Chinese Army - 1951.
General Macarthur dismissal.
Unpopular Truman Administration - especially Acheson.
Korean War implied Cold War was getting heated.
US boys dying fighting Communists.

Question 24

Who were Ethel and Julius Rosenberg?

Answer 24

Communist spies - able to breach US security.
Accused 1951 - admitted sympathies.
Executed 1953 for espionage - passing atomic bomb information to the USSR.

Question 25

What was the McCarren Internal Security Act 1950?

Answer 25

Established Subversive Activities Control Board.
Over Truman’s veto.
Investigated individuals regarding subversive activities.
Required communist organisations to register with the US Attorney General.
Guilty citizens - could lose citizenship for 5 years.
Couldn’t become citizens/leave the country.
Tightened deportation laws.
Emergency detention statue - gave FDR right to detain subversive individuals.

Question 26

What was McCarthy’s influence like in 1952-1957?

Answer 26

Republican Eisenhower 1952 victory.
BUT warned off going for CIA.
Disloyalty in US Army - big mistake - Eisenhower furious.
Army hearings televised - witness bullying treatment.
Assistant Roy Cohn - used influence with the Army to secure favours for boyfriend David Schine - conscripted soldier.
Media counter-attack/loss of power base.
Censured by Senate - 1954.
McCarthy - died 1957 - alcoholism.

Question 27

What is the evidence for McCarthyism having little impact?

Answer 27

Political froth created by the media e.g. William Randolph Hearst.
Cartoon villain - seized moment to achieve national recognition.
E.g. resented Democratic Truman’s victory.
Used red scare for attention/party support.

Question 28

What is the evidence for McCarthyism having big impact?

Answer 28

Circumstances kept him in public eye.
Red Scare virtually eliminated Soviet Agents.
E.g. only Cold War hawks were left in SD.
Moderates silenced.
Considerable US foreign policy impact - more aggressive hawk decision regarding Vietnam.

Question 29

What were the long-term impacts of McCarthyism?

Answer 29

Harmed Civil Rights movement.
1930s black activists - had been communist members.
Taft-Harley 1947 Act - required union leaders to make an oath - not Communists.
US unions - v. patriotic/anti-red e.g. Cold Hawks.
The BROADED Red Scare had a longer lasting impact.

Question 30

Who suffered as a result of McCarthyism?

Answer 30

Government employees/limited connections - lost jobs.
Hollywood actors/directors - blacklisted/careers blighted.
William Benton - smear campaign - defeated in 1952 elections.
Truman, Marshall, Acheson - accused of being soft.
HOWEVER USSR population suffered more.
US worse case - job losses.
E.g. Rosenbergs only executed after law process.
E.g. Hiss only 5 year sentence.

Question 31

What was the US economy like by 1954?

Answer 31

Early economic boom years - lasted until 1970.
New lifestyle/living standards.
Centred around house, TV and car ownership.
Travel/entertainment - for all.
Railways declined/buses for poor.
Little communism/socialism.

Question 32

What was the famous communist/capitalist argument?

Answer 32

UAW Reuther VS Nikita Khrushchev.
Argued that high wages = no capitalist exploitation.
Traditional w/c - prosperity blaze.
Bleak USSR lifestyle - caused Igor Gouzenko to defect in Ottawa.

Question 33

What were the negative aspects of the US prosperity in 1954?

Answer 33

Racial disharmony.
Thousands AAs moved to North cities.
FDR - little AA legalisation.
Truman desegregated army - but southern democrats stopped further attempts.
Brown Cases - racial divide.

Question 34

What Cold War developments helped create the 1950s Red Scare? 6

Answer 34

1. Gouzenko affair 1945.
2. Iron Curtain speech 1946.
3. Truman Doctrine 1947.
4. Marshal Aid 1947.
5. Soviet atom bomb 1949.
6. ‘Loss of China’ 1949.

Question 35

What was the Iron Curtain speech?

Answer 35

1946.
Winston Churchill.
Metaphor for 'barrier' separating the Soviet bloc/west.
Gap between capitalist/communist.
SCARE FACTOR: 3/3.

Question 36

What was the Truman Doctrine?

Answer 36

1947.
US should give aid to war threatened countries.
Seen as an open declaration of war by communists.
‘Domino effect’.
SCARE FACTOR: 2/3.

Question 37

What was Marshall Aid?

Answer 37

1947.
US gave $13 billion in economic support to help rebuild western European countries after WW2.
4 year operation.
Wanted to prevent spread of communism.
Pissed off Stalin.
SCARE FACTOR: 3/3.

Question 38

What were State Anti-subversion laws?

Answer 38

39 states backed FLB process up - wanted to stop communism.
Californian Levering Act 1950 - required all state employers to sign a loyalty oath - STATE LEVEL.
Communist Control Act 1954 - outlawed communist party - made it illegal to sign up.

Question 39

What was the National Security Act 1947?

Answer 39

Restructured US military/intelligence agencies.
Established National Security Council.
Helped USA keep track of USSR activity.

Question 40

What was Dennis VS USA?

Answer 40

1948.
Eugene Dennis - General Secretary of the communist party.
Ruled that he did not have the right under the First Amendment to exercise free speech, if he planned to overthrow the government.

Question 41

How did smaller organisations e.g. unions/NAAP/CIO deal with communism?

Answer 41

1947.
Taft-Hartley Act - union leaders were forced to swear that they were not communists.
NAACP/CIO - purged members with communist sympathies.

Question 42

What was the Alien Registration Act?

Answer 42

1940.
Illegal for any US citizen to advocate, encourage or teach desirability to overthrow the government.
Those over 14 years had to file a comprehensive statement of their personal/occupational status, with a record of their political beliefs.
4 months - 4,742,000 registered aliens.

Question 43

Why was the Korean War 1950-1953 important to the Red Scare?

Answer 43

First USA VS USSR war.
Not directly involved - small scale.
Third world country.
Avoided nuclear arms.
BUT showed communism was a threat - set tone for the Cold War.

Question 44

How did the media attack contribute to the DOWNFALL of McCarthyism?

Answer 44

Herb Block.
Gained confidence in counter-attack.
Edward Murrow 1954 - ‘See It Now’ - criticised McCarthy’s methods.
Newspaper columnists - Walter Lippmann, Jack Anderson.
Senate hearings televised - exposed tactics.