7 - 5 Second Red Scare and Propaganda

Second Red Scare and Propaganda

Inquiry Question

• How did the fight against communism influence the identity of the United States and its citizens?

The Second Red Scare Background

• After WWII, the US and the Soviet Union ( Communist ) began clashing and it was known as the Cold War .
• Due to how intense the situation was, many concerns started to be raised of fear of Communists.
  • The U.S feared that some citizens would work as spies for the Soviet Union and become a threat to US Security.

Propaganda-Turtle, Duck & Cover

• On August 29, 1949, the Soviet Union detonated its first nuclear device ( Remote Location ) .
• Result:
  • Schools Across the United States were training students to dive under their desks and cover their heads.
  • The Drills - Duck and Cover, to be done in the case of an atomic attack.
    • The drills were apart of President Truman’s Federal Civil Defense Administration program,
    • It aimed to educate the public about how people could protect themselves .
  • Bert the Turtle:
    • 1951, Archer Productions
      • Created a film that could be show in schools to educate children about how to prtect themselves in the case of atomic attack

McCarthyism

• Joseph McCarthy
  • Republican senator from Wisconsin
  • Claimed that communists had infiltrated several government agencies
• “McCarthyism”
  • Period of intense anticommunist suspicion in the late 1940s and early 1950s
  • Many innocent people accused of communist ties
  • Solid evidence against accused never produced

The Second Red Scare-Response to “Threats”

• March 21, 1947
  • Executive Order 9835 - The Loyalty Order
    • Mandated that all federal employees had to be thoroughly investigated to determine if they were loyal to the US Government .
• House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)
  • Focused on exposing / uncovering communists working inside the federal government or working in the hollywood film industry.
• The Lavender Scare
  • McCarthy stated that Gay people were considered susceptible to blackmail, constituting a security risk
    • Forced over 90 gov’t officials to resign or risk being outed in 1950
  • **1953: **Pres. Eisenhower signed Executive Order 10450, banning gay men and women from working for any agency of the federal government.

Hollywood Ten

• The Blacklisting Begins
  • .
    • Most people cited the fifth amendment, except for 10 individuals who decided to challenge the entire hearing:
      • They were asked: “Are you now or have you ever been a member of the communist party”
  • The Ten: Alvah Bessie, Herbert Biberman, Lester Cole, Edward Dmytryk, Ring Lardner Jr., John Howard Lawson, Albert Maltz, Samuel Ornitz, Robert Adrian Scott and Dalton Trumbo.

Result

• Charges:
  • _________________________________________________________________________________________________.
• Edward Dmytryk
  • Decided to cooperate with the government. He testified at a HUAC hearing and provided the names of more than 20 industry colleagues he claimed were communists.
• **Impact: ** Movie industry blacklist. Studio execs agreed that they would not hire any of the holywood ten other than the one who flipped.
  • ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________.

The Rosenbergs

• **Background: **
  • Julius Rosenberg was an engineer for the U.S. Army Signal Corps and his wife Ethel Greenglass worked as a secretary
    • Were members of the Young Communist League
• Accused
  • June 17, 1950: Julius Rosenberg was arrested on suspicion of espionage on
    • He was accused of heading spy ring that passed top-secret information concerning the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union .
      • His wife was arrested 2 months later.
    • They were accused by David Greenglass (Ethel’s Brother)
      • Had confessed to providing nuclear secrets tot he Soviets through a intermediary ,testified against his sister and brother-inlaw in court. He later served 10 years in prison
• The Rosenbergs maintained their innocence. Their trial was short and they were found guilty and sentenced ot death by electric chair.

Alger Hiss

• **Background: **
  • Alger Hiss was a State Department official
• **Accused: **
  • 1948:
    • Whitaker Chambers, an ex-communist and an editor with Time magazine
    • He also stated that when Hiss worked in the Department of State during the 1930s he had passed him top secret reports.
    • Hiss denied the charges but admitted that he knew Chambers
    • “Pumpkin Papers”: Chambers produced copies of documents that were given to him by Hiss, that were hidden in a pumpkin in his patch.
• Trial and Outcome
  • Statute of Limitations ran out so Hiss was charged with Perjury (for lying about passing government documents to Chambers and for denying that he had seen Chambers since 1937) instead of treason
  • Found guilty after 2 trials
  • Maintained innocence until his death.

Downfall of McCarthy

• Edward R. Murrow
  • CBS newscaster ran an exposé on McCarthy
  • McCarthy apperaed on Murrow’s show a few weeks later - The broadcast didn’t put McCarthy in the best light.
• The Army–McCarthy Hearings
  • The congressional hearings were among the first to be televised
  • McCarthy had turned his investigations to army security, but the army in turn charged him with using improper influence to win preferential treatment for a former staff member, Pvt. G. David Schine. .
    • Famous Line: Have you no sense of decency?”
  • Although McCarthy was acquitted, his support grew small.

Censure of McCarthy

• McCarthy’s popularity plummeted after hearings
  • Senator Margaret Chase SmithSpoke out against McCarthy
  • Senate voted to censure McCarthy in December 1954