Download Ch 25-3 The Second Red Scare

Ch 25-3 The Second Red Scare
Content Statement 19/Learning Goal:
Analyze the policy of containment the United States
followed during the Cold War in response to the
spread of communism.
Content Statement 20/Learning Goal
Explain how the Second Red Scare and McCarthyism
reflected Cold War fears in American Society
Last Chapter Learning Goal
Summarize how atomic weapons have changed the
nature of war, altered the balance of power and
began the nuclear age.
Ch 25-3 vocabulary
• Chiang Kai-sheck: (1887-1975) leader of the Chinese Nationalist government and a
strong U.S. ally; his government was defeated by Communists in 1949.
• Mao Zedong: (1893-1976) leader of the Chinese Communists, he led a successful
revolution and established a communist government in China in 1949.
• House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC): committee formed in the House
of Representatives in the 1930’s to investigate radical groups in the U.S.; it later
came to focus on the threat of communism in the U.S. during and after WWII.
• Hollywood Ten: Hollywood writers and directors who were thought to be radicals
and called before HUAC; they refused to cooperate and were sentenced to short
prison terms.
• Alger Hiss: (1904-1957) Formers U.S. government official who was accused in 1948
of participating in a Communist spy ring. He denied the charges but was convicted
of lying under oath in in 1950.
• Joseph McCarthy: (1908-1957) U.S. Senator from Wisconsin who gained national
fame in late 1940’s and early 1950’s by aggressively charging that communists were
working in the U.S. government. He lost support in 1954, after making baseless
attacks of military officials.
• McCarthyism: the name critics gave to Joseph McCarthy’s tactic of spreading fear
and making baseless charges. Lack of freedom of speech. Many lost employment.
1.Soviet Atomic Weapons
• In September 1949
Truman announced that
the Soviet Union had
detonated an atomic
bomb.
• This was a shock to the
nation.
• Soviets had stolen plans of
Atomic bomb from U.S.
• Truman began to
strengthen the nation’s
military against a possible
Soviet nuclear threat.
2.Communist China
• Communists in China had
gained nearly full control
of the country.
• The Nationalist
government of Chiang Kaishek fled to Taiwan.
Corrupt but ally of U.S.
• China was in the hands of
the Communist Party
under the leadership of
Mao Zedong.
• Americans worried that
China increased the
Communist threat to the
United States.
Causes of WWI and WWII
1) Militarism: building up of military weapons
2) Alliances: WWI: Triple Alliance (Central Powers) Triple
Entente (The Allies) WWII: Axis Powers (Japan, Germany, Italy)
Allied Powers. Cold War: NATO (U.S), Warsaw Pact (U.S.S.R)
3) Imperialism: expanding territorial claims
4) Nationalism: putting your nation’s interests above interests of
all others.
3. Investigating Communism
• The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)
investigated the full range of radical groups in the United States,
including Fascists and Communists.
• Truman created a plan to investigate all federal employees.
Those found to be disloyal to the United States were barred
from federal employment.
• HUAC summoned 2,375 men and women lost their jobs as a
result of McCarthy’s trials. 400 Americans went to jail.
• The Smith Act made it a crime to call for the overthrow of the
U.S. government or belong to an organization that did so. 
First Amendment– restricted because of national security
• The McCarran Act limited the rights of Communist
organizations.
• Several spy cases in the late 1940s fueled fears of communism.
3.Investigating
Communism
• The House Un-American Activities Committee
(HUAC) explored the possible Communist
influence in the American film industry.
• The Hollywood Ten refused to answer HUAC
questions about their beliefs or those of their
colleagues. Served short prison terms.
• Many others in Hollywood did testify, for if they
didn’t their names were placed on a blacklist.
• Truman investigated all federal employees to
ensure the loyalty of government officials.
4.Truman
and
Loyalty
• Republicans claimed Communists were working
in the government.
• The investigations turned up little evidence of
disloyalty. 3 million investigated, a few
thousand resigned, and about 200 judged as
disloyal.
• This investigation made clear that Truman was
serious about fighting communism.
5.The Smith Act 6. The McCarran 7. Spy Cases
Act
• Truman charged
• Alger Hiss—
several leaders of • This act required convicted of
the Communist
Communist
being a spy for
Party in the
organizations to
the Soviets
United States
register with the
• Klaus Fuchs—a
under this act.
government.
Manhattan
• The act made it a • It established a
Project scientist
crime to call for
special board to
who gave
the overthrow of investigate
atomic bomb
the U.S.
Communist
information to
government.
involvement.
the Soviets
• The leaders were • Made it illegal to • Ethel and Julius
convicted and
plan a
Rosenberg—
their convictions
totalitarian
convicted of
were upheld in
dictatorship
passing secrets
Dennis v. United
of A-bomb to
• Prevented
States.
the Soviets and
Communists
executed
from entering the
United States
8.Senator Joseph McCarthy/The rise of McCarthyism
• Joseph McCarthy was a senator who claimed that there were 205
known Communists working for the U.S. Department of State.
• Truman dismissed him as a “ballyhoo artist.”
• A political cartoonist dubbed McCarthy’s tactic of spreading fear
and making baseless charges McCarthyism.
• McCarthy’s claims were rarely backed up with any evidence, but
this didn’t stop him from gaining a reputation as being the nation’s
top Communist fighter.
• McCarthy succeeded when he made a special effort to defeat
Maryland senator Millard Tydings.
• 9,500 civil servants were dismissed and 15,000 resigned; 600
teachers lost their jobs
• McCarthyism spread beyond the Senate into other branches of
government, into universities, into labor unions, and into private
businesses. Did not want to be open to charges of being
“soft
on communism.”
9. McCarthy’s Fall
McCarthy continued his campaign from the Senate but
became increasingly wild in his accusations.
In 1952 he began to go after fellow Republicans.
In 1954 he attacked the U.S. Army, claiming that it
was protecting Communists.
After hearing over Communism in Army, McCarthy is
exposed as a fraud.
The public came to view McCarthy’s tactics as unfair.
The fear of communism remained, but Senator
McCarthy and McCarthyism faded away.