communism and red scare

HUAC

  • HUAC set up 1938 by congress to investigate Nazi sympathisers

  • It changed focus to investigate those suspected of supporting communism in late 1940s

  • Hollywood was targeted and accused of making communist ‘brainwashing’ movies

  • First investigation:

    • Charlie Chaplin had to leave US

    • Some actors like Gary Cooper supported the committee’s investigations but many refused to answer questions

    • ‘Hollywood 10’ writers + directors fined and sent to prison for refusing to testify

  • Second investigation:

    • 1954, produced a ‘blacklist’ of 350 who wouldn’t be employed

mccarthyism

  • Joseph McCarthy was a republican senator of Wisconsin

  • He made a speech where he said state department was ‘infested with 200 spies’, but later adjusted claim to 57

  • 1953: given control of senate committee on gov. operations and subcommittee of investigations. ‘multiple untruth’ meant his accusations were complex and difficult to unravel. He also had access to HUAC and FBI files

McCarthy became one of the most popular men in America initially and gained support from diverse groups such as American league veterans and Christian fundamentalists who saw communism as the devil. Less educated, poorer people ‘susceptible’ to conspiracies.

  • He condemned highly respected figures like General Marshall and in 1954 investigated the army for communists (which had just finished fighting against communism in Korea).

  • Many figures associated with army like army attorney Welch and president/ex-commander Eisenhower were critical of McCarthy which made people turn on him

  • 1954: TV hearings — bullying tactics and drunkenness, no hard evidence. He was censured by the senate and returned to obscurity until his death from alcoholism in 1957

anti-communism and the cold war

  • The development of the cold war

    • 1949 — USSR exploded first nuclear weapon. Americans feared mass destruction/end of the world

    • Military industrial complex w/ defence spending $40-50 bil a year 1950s, 90% of foreign aid to US allies going to military spending

      • Billions spent maintaining military presence in western Europe + southeast Asia

      • Arizona, New Mexico = areas for weapon testing

    • Children took military drills ‘duck and cover’ 1950s. 1954 — nationwide drill testing lasting 10 minutes (54 cities cleared streets)

Americans were paranoid because politicians (congress and senator McCarthy) were telling them to be scared of communists taking over AND because of mass destruction from nuclear weapons.

key events in the cold war

  • Truman doctrine

    • 1947: Truman offers support to countries struggling against communism

    • First applied in Greece to give aid to non-communist forces, the intervention appeared successful as they didn’t turn communist

  • Marshall aid

    • 1948: $13 bil package to help European countries recover from WW2

    • 22 nations conference to assess economic needs, USSR didn’t allow any of its countries to attend

  • Berlin airlift

    • 1948-49: Germany and Berlin divided into 4 zones

    • 1948: Deutschmark introduced, Stalin cut transport links with the west

    • Britain + USA organised airlift, 1949: 8,000 tons of supplies delivered per day and blockade called off 9 May

  • Korean war

    • 1950-53

    • Korea divided into North and South after war, 1953 communist N. Korea invades South. UN sends American forces to stop invasion

    • UN liberated S. Korea but went on to invade N. Korea which China warned them not to as they would send troops

    • 27,000 USA troops and 1 mil Korean civilians died

    • 1953: peace agreed and country remained divided. Communism = global issue, Eisenhower speaking of ‘domino effect’ that if one country becomes communist, many will follow

red scare

  • Klaus Fuchs — physicist who left Germany in 1930s due to being a communist. He was part of the Manhattan project and passed nuclear secrets to the USSR

  • Julius and Ethel Rosenberg — US scientists executed for giving away atomic secrets

  • Alger Hiss — president of Carnegie institute and key figure at Yalta conference, accused of helping USSR to extend influence in Eastern Europe. Whittaker Chambers found evidence that he had handed copies of secret documents to soviets in 1938, couldn’t be prosecuted for it because it was too long ago but was found guilty of perjury for lying to court and sentenced to 5 years