Unit 8: Topic 3 - Anticommunism Flashcards
Who was Alger Hiss?
Alger Hiss was a former State Department official and also served as President Roosevelt’s assistant at the Yalta Conference. Whittaker Chambers, a prominent newspaper publisher, accused Hiss of being a communist spy. Prosecuted by staunch anti-communist Richard Nixon, Hiss was convicted of perjury in 1950. These cases and others like them fueled the fear of espionage and contributed to the climate of fear during the second Red Scare
What was the Taft-Hartley Act?
The Taft–Hartley Act amended the 1935 National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) to weaken unions by prohibiting them from participating in several labor practices, including jurisdictional strikes, wildcat strikes, and solidarity or political strikes. Enacted during the early stages of the Cold War and the Second Red Scare, the law required union officers to sign non-communist oaths.
Who were Julius and Ethel Rosenberg?
The Rosenbergs were American citizens accused of conspiracy to commit espionage for passing American atomic secrets to the Soviet Union. They were convicted and executed via the electric chair in 1953. The material provided to the Soviet Union may have hastened the Soviet development of a nuclear warhead. The revelation that secret materials were passed on to the U.S.S.R. convinced many that communist infiltrators were everywhere.
The Rosenbergs remain the only civilians executed for espionage in U.S. history.
What was the second Red Scare?
The second Red Scare refers to the fear of communism that spread throughout American politics, culture, and society from the late 1940s through the 1950s, during the opening phases of the Cold War with the Soviet Union. It was more pervasive and lasted longer than the first Red Scare.
Many in the U.S. feared that the Soviet Union and its allies were planning to forcefully spread communism around the globe, overthrowing both democratic and capitalist institutions. The term “Red” came from the color of the flag used by Marxist and Communist groups.
What was the Loyalty Review Board?
As part of the Red Scare, in 1947, President Truman authorized the creation of the Loyalty Review Board. The board looked into the background of three million government employees to determine whether or not they held Communist sympathies and were, therefore, security risks. The program was run by the Civil Service Commission and was supported by the FBI, allowing them to conduct extensive background checks on federal employees. As a result, several hundred government employees were fired.
As part of the investigation, the Attorney General’s List of Subversive Organizations was established. This secret list (which included the Communist and Nazi Parties and the Ku Klux Klan) would prove instrumental in the rise of McCarthyism during the height of the Red Scare.
What was the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)?
Initially established in 1939 to seek out Nazis, the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) was reactivated in the postwar years to find communists. The committee investigated real and suspected communists in positions of influence in American society, including Hollywood. Actors and directors were called before the committee to testify. Those who refused were tried for contempt of Congress. One example was the Hollywood 10, who famously refused to testify in front of Congress and were blacklisted.
What activities became regulated under the McCarran Internal Security Act (1950)?
Passed by Congress over President Truman’s veto during the Red Scare, the McCarran Internal Security Act:
- Made it unlawful to advocate for a totalitarian government.
- Restricted travel for known communists.
- Required communist organizations to register with the government
- Authorized the President to arrest and detain any person he believed was engaging in espionage.
- Banned picketing a federal courthouse.
What is McCarthyism?
McCarthyism is a term associated with Senator Joseph McCarthy, who, in the early 1950s, claimed that there were over 200 Communists in the State Department. McCarthy led a “witch hunt” for communists, investigating the State Department, the Army, and Hollywood, among others.
McCarthy only rarely had evidence to support his accusations, and the term “McCarthyism” has come to mean a practice of making allegations via investigative techniques which are unfair, especially in order to restrict political opinions with which one does not agree.
