8.2 - Cold War Fears at Home

Defection

the desertion of one's country or cause in favor of an opposing one

Subversion

a systematic attempt to overthrow a government by using persons working secretly from within

Loyalty Review Program/ Board

a policy established by President Truman that authorized the screening of all federal employees to determine their loyalty to the U.S. government

J. Edgar Hoover

The director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation who investigated and harassed alleged communists

House Un-American Activities Committee

A congressional committee created to search out disloyal Americans & Communists.

Smith Act

1940 act which made it illegal to speak of or advocate overthrowing the U.S. government. Was used by Truman 11 times to prosecute suspected Communists

Hollywood Ten

ten witnesses from the film industry who refused to cooperate with the HUAC's investigation of Communist influence in Hollywood

5th Amendment

The Right to Remain Silent/Double Jeopardy, right to due process

Blacklist

A list of about 500 actors, writers, producers and directors who were not allowed to work on Hollywood films because of their alleged Communist connections.

Whittaker Chambers

A confessed Communist and a star witness for the HUAC in 1948 when he testified against Alger Hiss.

Alger Hiss

A former State Department official who was accused of being a Communist spy and was convicted of perjury. The case was prosecuted by Richard Nixon.

Richard Nixon (California Representative)

Pushed for continued hearings in the Pumpkin Papers Case

Perjury

lying under oath

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg

Peaceful members of the Communist party that were charged with selling atomic bomb secrets to the Soviets. Even though they denied the charges, they were executed.

Project Venona

Secret project to decode Soviet Messages to the U.S, confirming spying and nuclear secret stealing. When this project's existence was revealed in 1995, evidence was found to support Julius Rosenberg's spying allegations, but not Ethel's.

Loyalty Oaths

Promises within churches, universities, state governments, and unions that their members would not support the overthrowing of the government and that they were not members of the communist party

Lavender Scare

Dimension of the red scare of the 1950s that targeted the homosexual community as loyalty and because of their perceived lack of morality and security risks because communist influences could use blackmailing threats of exposing closeted homosexuals for American intelligence. Basically the government was really Homophobic and needed a reason to kick them out.

Joseph R. McCarthy

Led a crusade to investigate officials he claimed were Communists

McCarran Act

Required all communist organizations to register with the government and to provide lists of members- members could not have passports and could be arrested and detained in cases of a national emergency.

McCarthyism

The act of accusing people of disloyalty and communism without any real evidence

Censure

Formal disproval against (what the senate did to McCarthy)

Hydrogen Bomb

One thousand more times more powerful than the atomic bomb. Truman ordered the development of it to outpace the Soviets.

Duck and Cover

exercise for schoolchildren; supposed protection from a atomic bomb

Fallout

The radiation left over after a blast

Arthur Miller's The Crucible

Popular play in 1950s that used the 1692 Salem Witch Trials as a metaphor for McCarthyism