McCarthyism
As a result of the recent escalation of the Cold War and the spread of communism throughout the world, domestic paranoia concerning communist infiltration increased. This laid the foundation for the investigations of the House Un-American Activities Committee. Taking advantage of this "Red Scare" was Senator Joseph McCarthy who utilized the fear and panic of United States citizens to advance his own interests. Though many Americans believed the investigations were wrong, few said anything.
National Securities Act of 1947, 1949: The CIA was enacted to pursue and conduct espionage and analyze information and facts concerning the actions of foreign countries. It also became involved in undercover operations to destroy operations made to be hostile toward the U.S.
House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC): FDR established this organization to serve as a platform to the denunciation of the New Deal and communism growth in the U.S. Used to investigate and expose communist influence in America and blurred the line between dissent and disloyalty. It also brought about hysteria and caused blacklisting to occur so that people considered to be "communists" never found work.
McCarthyism, McCarthy, Senator Joseph: He started the hysteria that occurred after the second Red Scare and accused U.S. citizens of being communists. These accusations appealed to Midwestern Americans who found that anti-communism was to fight against liberals and internationalists. It took over the U.S. as a means of fighting communism without realizing that the U.S. was in danger of losing what it was fighting for, Freedom and the Constitution.
McCarthy, Senator Joseph: Republicans support and political power was given to senator McCarthy to instill fear within the Democratic Party. He was supported by the GOP party and many resented that he accused many people of being Communists without having proof of their disloyalty. By accusing many of communism, McCarthyism arose.
Hiss, Alger: Identified as a member of the communist party by and initially denied claims. Proof was given that Hiss was involved in espionage in the 1930s with the transmitting of information to the Soviet Union through microfilm. Indicted for perjury and sentenced to five years in prison, 1950
McCarran Internal Security Act, 1950: Required all organizations that were believed to be communist by the attorney general to submit a roster of the members and financial statements to the Department of Justice. It also excluded communists from working in defense plants, passports to communists and deported aliens suspected of subversion.
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg: In March of 1951, based primarily on the testimony of their alleged accomplices, Henry Greengrass and Harry Gold, the Rosenbergs were found guilty of conspiring to commit espionage. Their electrocution in 1953 represented the anti-Communist fever that gripped the U.S.
Hollywood 10: The 10 people from the entertainment industry called before the House Un-American Activities Committee as "unfriendly" witnesses in October 1947 became known as the Hollywood Ten. All refused to state whether they were communists, served prison sentences, and were blacklisted in the film industry.
Fuchs, Klaus: He was a German physicist who was a British citizen from 1942-1950 and an atomic scientist in the United Kingdom and the United States from 1942 on. He was sentenced to prison in England in 1950 for having given atomic secrets to the USSR. After he was freed in 1959, he went to East Germany.
"Pink Lady": Douglas, Helen Gahagan: When Richard Nixon ran against the liberal Democratic Jerry Voorhis for a California congressional seat in 1946, he won easily by suggesting that Voorhis had left-wing tendencies. When Nixon ran for the Senate in 1950, he used similar charges to defeat the Democratic candidate, Congresswoman Douglas.
Anti-Communist Vocabulary: Red, pink or pinko, left-wing, and commie were some of the slurs thrown around during the McCarthy years to brand people with a communist "taint." These campaigns were known as witch-hunts by those who opposed HUAC tactics, and like the Salem witch-hunts, accusations alone, without any proof of wrong-doing, could be enough to ruin someone and get them "blacklisted" and unable to find employment.
