Second Red Scare and the Cold War

Legacies of WWII

• Yalta → Roosevelt insisted on liberated Europe with free elections - had offered Manchuria and more control in Asia in exchange for Europe being free

• Ideological differences between the US’s free-market capitalism and the Soviet’s command-economy communism

• US undertook sustained involvement in European affairs

Occupation of Germany

Germany is partitioned into 4 zones controlled by Britain, France, US, and Soviet Union and Berlin was also divided into 4 zones (we say 2 zones as the allied part and Soviet Union part)

• Germany was to be a single unit, but Soviet Union sealed off access to east Germany

• Stalin was allowed to take 25% of West German industry in exchange for food and oil

Iron Curtain

Church hill stated he saw an iron curtain come over Europe as a barrier between the Soviet sphere of influence and western

Long Telegram

George Keenan sent a telegraph stating US-Soviet cooperation is not possible, the only strategy was to contain communism

Domino Theory

If one nation falls to communism then the surrounding borders will too

Marshall Plan

States poor economic conditions allowed for the rise of leaders like Hitler we can’t allow that so we should help aid countries in Europe not to fall

• the providing over $13 billion in economic aid to 16 Western European countries to help them rebuild after World War II

• does not provide aid to Soviet Union

Truman Doctrine

U.S. foreign policy established in 1947 that committed to providing political, military, and economic aid to democratic nations threatened by authoritarian forces, particularly communism

• does not provide aid to communist countries

Cold War

Period of global tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies from after World War II until 1991

• Contest of political, economic, and ideological rivalry

• waged through proxy wars, propaganda, and an arms race, but without direct, large-scale military conflict between the two superpowers

Warsaw Pact

In 1995, the Soviet Union created a pact with other eastern European communist countries in response to the remilitarization of West Germany and its entry into NATO

NATO

Alliance formed during the Cold War (1949), a collective defense alliance of western nations against potential Soviet aggression

Spies at Home

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg → American communists who were convicted of conspiring to pass atomic secrets to the Soviet Union and executed in 1953 for espionage (David Greenglass her brother convicted them)

Klaus Fuchs → physicist working on the Manhattan Project who leaked intelligence to the USSR

Second Red Scare

Fear of communism unleashed a second red scare worse than the one following WWI

• had logistical background, real threats found that gave hysteria power, but it was exaggerated to bring further fear

• Cases of accused spies like the Rosenbergs scared the nation  

• Association between communists and civil rights leaders were used to discredit civil rights 

Joseph McCarthy

Senator who made multiple unsubstantiated claims that State Department employees and other, and linked homosexuality to communism

• Lavender Scare → suspected homosexuals and lesbians were purged from government jobs 

Loyalty Program 

The program was designed to screen federal employees for communist or other subversive influences, resulting in investigations, dismissals, and resignations

• The program was a response to fears of communist infiltration within the U.S. government and was a domestic component of the broader Cold War containment strategy

• President Harry S. Truman's Federal Employee Loyalty Program, established in 1947 by Executive Order 9835

Hollywood Ten

screenwriters and directors who were blacklisted during the Cold War for refusing to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in 1947 about their alleged communist affiliations

Military Industrial Complex

• Following WWII military strength remained above 1 million and was as at 1.5 Million in 1950.

• Selective Service Act of 1948 had enabled second peace time draft.  By 1952 the Armed Forced reached 3.6 Million and stayed above 3 million until after the Korean War.

• Military spending remained high; much of the money went to private industry. 

• Americans - more likely to support foreign wars, military expenditures, overseas alliances, and sacrifices to civil liberties due to national security concerns. 

• Military conscription - became a normal part of American youth during the 1950s.