Module 8-2: The Second Red Scare

Emergence of the Second Red Scare: Understand the reasons behind the emergence of the Second Red Scare in the late 1940s.
Government Response: Explaining the measures taken by the government and private organizations in response to this climate of fear.
Senator McCarthy's Role: Analyze how Senator Joseph McCarthy amplified fears and used the situation for political purposes.
Public Response: Explore how individual Americans reacted to the fear during the Second Red Scare.

Causation: Investigating the reasons and actions that contributed to the Second Red Scare.

American and National Identity: The intersection between American identity and fears of communism.

The Second Red Scare occurred as a result of escalating tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
Europe was divided by an Iron Curtain, creating a palpable fear among Americans of nuclear war and global domination by communism.
Key events leading to this climate of fear included:
  - The Communist revolution in China.
  - The Korean War, which further intensified the fear of communist threats.
  - Revelations of espionage, notably the cases of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who were executed for their roles in atomic espionage.

Investigations became urgent, sparked by fears of domestic communist activity, leading to the:
  - House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC): Established to investigate suspected communists through public hearings.
  - Federal Employee Loyalty Program (1947): Created to screen government employees for loyalty, it aimed to root out potential communists in the system.
  - Various loyalty review boards, which scrutinized over 2.5 million federal employees, resulted in the dismissal of numerous employees based solely on their political beliefs, often without due process.
Prominent anti-communist actions:
- Initiation of the Palmer Raids during the First Red Scare that set a precedent for aggressive anti-communist actions.
- The Smith Act (1940): Prohibited advocating the violent overthrow of the government, further restricting civil liberties.

Joseph McCarthy, the junior senator from Wisconsin, became the face of the anti-communist campaign from 1950 to 1954.
- His tactics included making sensational claims about communist infiltration at high levels of government without substantial evidence.
- McCarthy’s speech claiming to have a list of 205 communists within the State Department launched broad anti-communist sentiment in politics.
Consequences of McCarthy’s Approach:
- The atmosphere fostered by McCarthy led to widespread fear and paranoia, targeting individuals regardless of substantiated evidence of wrongdoing.
- The term McCarthyism has come to describe the harassment and persecution of suspected political radicals.

As government investigations intensified, many Americans began to act out of fear:
- They participated in the blacklisting of suspected communists, especially in the entertainment industry, which culminated in cases like the Hollywood Ten.
- Individuals often had to sign loyalty oaths or face unemployment based on mere accusations of disloyalty.
The Rosenberg case became a symbol of the extremity of anti-communist sentiments, where the couple was executed based on espionage charges amid a highly public trial.

Motion Picture Association of America, Press Release (1947):
  - This press release announces the decision to suspend workers cited for contempt by Congress, reflecting the intense scrutiny within Hollywood.
  - The Association claims no subversive elements were present in the industry, yet they commit to rooting out potential influence.
  - Questions for analysis include the intended audience, the rationale for the blacklist, and the proposed actions against suspected individuals.
Paul Robeson, Statement on the Un-American Activities Committee (1949):
- He argues that the real threats to African Americans stem from domestic issues such as racism and economic injustice rather than communism.
- Robeson challenges the House Un-American Activities Committee's focus, claiming it detracts from pressing matters affecting African Americans.

Other critical cases included the Alger Hiss case, where former State Department official Hiss faced charges of espionage based on dubious evidence.
The tumultuous political environment fostered by these events shaped the discourse among both Democrats and Republicans regarding the perceived threat of communism.
Truman’s Response: Despite the bipartisan push for anti-communist legislation, Truman's efforts to implement safeguards against communism were often obstructed.
- The McCarran Internal Security Act faced his veto but was overridden, indicating the widespread political agreement on combating perceived communist threats.

McCarthy's aggressive tactics led to his decline in public favor after televised hearings revealed his bullying methods.
These events contributed to a suspension of fervent anti-communist activities post-1954, yet the implications of McCarthyism lingered in American political culture.
The Congressional investigations and Supreme Court decisions, like that in Yates v. United States (1957), signified a slow shift away from extreme anti-communism, though fear persisted in many social and political realms, including civil rights movements.