RED SCARE & MCCARTHYISM - civil rights

What is the constitution?

• a basic set of laws and principles that a country or organisation is governed by

• produced 1791

• when the USA won its independence from Britain

What is the congress?

• the group of people chosen or elected to make laws in the USA

• made up or 2 houses (senate & house of represenatives)

What does federation mean?

a group of people, states, etc.

How is the United States governed?

• a union/federation of individual states

• each state has it’s own government, which has a lot of power within that state

• federal government (based in Washington DC) is the government for the whole country

Within the American system of government, what is the legislative role?

makes laws

• congress

• senate

• house of representatives

Within the American system of government, what is the executive role?

carries out laws - ensure they’re constitutional and clear

• president

• vice president

• cabinet

• departments (secretaries chosen by the presidennt)

Within the American system of government, what is the judicial role?

evaluates laws

• Supreme Court

• other federal courts

What was amendment 13 to the US constitution?

abolishment of slavery - 1865

What was amendment 14 to the US constitution?

civil rights for all American citizens - equal protection of the law - 1868

What was amendment 15 to the US constitution?

giving African American the right to vote - 1870

What was amendment 19 to the US constitution?

giving women the right to vote - 1920

How did the Russian revolution cause the 1st red scare?

• 1st red scare 1919-20 - in 1917 the Russian empire was taken over by communists, after this there was a wave of anti-communist violence across USA. leading to the 1st red scare.

• Americans feared Eastern European immigrants would try take over their government and make USA communist.

• thousands of suspected communists were arrested and some were sent back to Russia.

• although fear of communism reduced after 1920 (did not disappear), many Americans remained concerned that the Soviet Union wanted to destroy capitalism.

due to the Cold War, what made Americans think there would be a communist take over?

• aims of some Russian communists in 1917, was world revolution and to encourage communism in other countries.

Why did America want the rest of the world to be capitalists?

it needed other countries to trade with so its business and people would grow richer

How did the end of WW2 start the red scare?

• last few months of WW2 - Eastern Europe had been liberated from the Nazis by the red army of the soviet union. End of WW2 soviet troops remained in the liberated countries.

• Feb-July 1945 - communist government set up in some of those countries.

• to soviets this provided a buffer zone of protection against another invasion from the west - up to 25 million soviets had been killed in the WW2.

• but to Western Europe and USA - seemed like they were trying to take over Europe.

How did the making of atomic weapons increase rivalry between USA + Soviet Union?

• 16 July 1945 - USA successfully tested atomic bomb - despite being allies - Soviet Union was not told about the developing tech and took it as a threat.

• 6&9 Aug - the US dropped 2 atomic bombs on Japan - Stalin immediately boosted atomic research trying to develop his own bomb.

how did Soviet expansion in Europe cause the red scare?

• 1946 Greek communists tried taking over the government - Soviet Union didn’t send troops or materials to help - but did voice encouragement.

• increased fear of Americans believing communists takeover of Europe.

• so the US, sent money to Greek government to remove the communists.

• 1947-1948 - remaining countries under Soviet influence in Eastern Europe became communist - some taken over by force, others by elections (which the only canidets allowed to vote were members of the communist party.

• 1950 - all countries of EU had communist government - most became satellite states of Soviet Union.

What was the Truman Doctorate?

• tried preventing more countries becoming communist

• march 1947 - the Truman doctorate announced - promised to support any country resisting take over by other groups/countries (communists)

• US government backed up financial support to the doctorate - believed that communist ideas were likely to take hold in areas of poverty

What was the Marshall plan?

• gave million dollars of aid to European countries suffering economic problems after WW2

• Soviet Union saw this as the USA - trying to extend its influence and Stalin did not allow Eastern European countries to accept the aid offered

What is the Berlin Crisis?

• 1945 - Germany split into 4 - UK, Soviet Union, France, USA each controlling a zone

• German capital - was divided into 4 - but Berlin was inside Soviet Union zone

• 1946 - without consulting - Soviet Union, USA, UK, France - combined zones - later becoming western Germany

• Western Germany - begging to recover from effects of war - Soviet Union feared idea of recovered Germany

• June 1948 - Stalin blocked all roads, rail,canal supply lines into West Berlin - to try force it to be dependant on Soviet Union

• Truman saw this as a test of the doctorate - western allies took supplies by aircraft - Stalin knew firing at the aircraft would start war (nothing he could do)

• May 1949 - reopened supply lines - moral defeat - left Berlin in a crisis point in years to come

How did the Korean War start the red scare?

• events of 1949-50 convinced many Americans that Soviet Union wanted world domination

• 1949 Chinese communist won civil war - control China despite US support for their opponent

• communist uprising in Malaysia, indonesia, philipenes

• 1950 communist North Korea invaded capitalist South Korea

Who was the director of the FBI and his role ?

• J Edgar Hoover

• strong anti-communist views

• major role of arresting suspecting communists in the 1st red scare 1919-20

What did the FBI do?

as the Cold War began they started creating files of those suspected of spying for communist Russia

what was the government response to Hoovers concerns?

president Truman established Federal loyalty boards in 1947 to investigate federal employees suspected of government ties

how many workers were investigated due to Federal Loyalty Boards?

between 1947 and 1951 around 3 million government workers were investigated

How many jobs were lost due to Federal Loyalty Boards?

approx 3,000 employees were fired or forced to resign despite lack of evidence of actual spying

What did the HUAC do + the impact to employees?

• set up - 1938

• investigated suspected communists in various sectors, including private businesses

• many innocent employees lost their jobs - even criminal trial

• 1947 - began public hearings - of the threat of the communist party of America

  • the FBI secretly began passing intelligence to the HUAC

What does FBI stand for?

Federal Bureau of Investigation

What does HUAC stand for?

House committee on Un-American Activities

Who was the Hollywood 10?

• 10 individuals who refused to answer questions, pleading the first amendment for protection

• they were jailed for 1 year for contempt and blacklisted, preventing them to from working in Hollywood

• concern that communists would spread propaganda through the film industry

What did the HUAC do to prevent propaganda from spreading via the film industry?

• October 1947 - called 41 Hollywood writers, producers, and directors for questioning

• they named 19 people communists

• out of the 19, 10 refused to answer when made to appear infant of HUAC ( the (hollywood 10)

What was the impact of Hollywood 10?

• increased anti-communism hysteri

• gave publicity to HUACS work

• film industry produced more anti-communist filmsW

Who was Alger Hiss and why did he investigate the HUAC?

Alger Hiss was a former member of the State Department and an adviser to President Roosevelt during World War II.

• In 1948, HUAC (House Committee on Un-American Activities) investigated him on accusations of being a communist.

• Richard Nixon led the questioning, claiming Hiss had leaked information to the Soviet Union.

What were the accusations against Hiss and what was the outcome of his case?

Hiss was accused of spying for the Soviet Union, but there was no direct evidence to convict him of espionage.

• Instead, he was convicted of perjury (lying under oath) in January 1950.

• He was sentenced to 5 years in prison.

• His case increased fears of communist infiltration within the U.S. government.

Who were Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, and what happened to them?

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were American citizens accused of spying for the Soviet Union by passing atomic secrets.

• They were implicated by Klaus Fuchs and David Greenglass (Ethel’s brother), both of whom confessed to espionage.

• The Rosenbergs denied the charges, but in 1951, they were found guilty.

• Despite controversy over the evidence, they were executed on June 19, 1953.

How did the public react to the Rosenberg case and the Hollywood Ten?

• Some protested the Hollywood Ten’s imprisonment and the Rosenbergs’ execution due to the weak evidence.

• However, most Americans supported these actions, believing the country faced a serious communist threat.

• The trials and convictions fueled fears of a communist conspiracy.

What was the McCarran Internal Security Act of 1950?

• Passed in August 1950 in response to growing fears of communism.

• It required all communist organizations to register with the government.

• Increased government surveillance and control over suspected communists.

How did the Soviet Union’s atomic bomb test impact fears of communism in the USA?

• in 1949, the Soviet Union successfully tested its first atomic bomb.

• Combined with the Hiss Case and the Rosenberg trial, this intensified American fears of a communist threat.

• Many believed Soviet spies had infiltrated the U.S. and stolen nuclear secrets.

Who is joeseph Mccarthy and what was his list?

• became a republican senator from Wisconsin - 1964

• after the Hiss trial - Feb 1950 - he made a speech claiming to have 205 members of the communist party who worked within the US State department

• list was reduced to 57 - senators + public demanded investigation

What did the Tydings committee say in oppose ro Mccarthy

• the Tydings committee set up to investigate but found that Mccarthys accusations were untrue

• his response was to call then ‘un-american’ + communist sympathiser

• tydings was not re-elected that year

Who made Mccarthy chair man of the government Committee on Operations of the Senate?

Dwight Eisenhower - and for the next 2 years Mccarthy led investigations into various government departments.

What methods did Mccarthy use?

• bullying and aggressive questioning of many suspected communists, especially attacking high-profile figures to gain more publicity - trying to get them to confess

• gathered evidence (a lot fed from the FBI)

• attack senators and journalists for being communist if they spoke out against him

explain Mccarthys downfall

• accusations grew increasingly extreme - accused a popular war general George Marshall - of helping the ‘communists drive for world domination’

• Eisenhower - war general himself - didn’t support his friend in fear of loosing votes

• 1954 - the public saw Mccarthy at work televised for the first time - shocked by his bullying - army found evidence of him abusing his privileges

• more anti-mccarthy material appeared in the press

• 9 March - Ed Murrow broadcast ‘see it now’ show on Mccarthy

• historians credit this for his downfall

state 6 reasons for Mccarthys downfall

• the army found and sent evidence of his corruption to news reporters

• Mccarthys accusations became more extreme

• the media produced an increasing number of anti-mccarthy articles and programmes

• cold war tensions had eased slightly after the ending of the korean war - july 1953

• nobody was ever convicted of spying based on Mccarthys work

• the televised army-mccarthy hearings meant the public saw his bullying tactics

Impacts of Mccarthyism

• thousands of people lost jobs

• careers and lives were damaged by allegations

• companies and institutions were effected too

• communism hysteria was so common

• thousands of ordinary people gave information to the FBI on people who they thought were communist

• people were seen as ‘red’ if they had radical or socialist views

• trade unions - seen as communist

• many stopped talking about politicans/ world events

• politicians rarely vited left wing policies

• USA was seen as intolerant of people with different ideas - more people became anti - american