The Cold War at Home

1. The Cold War at Home 26.3 and 26.4

2. Fear of Communism! • During WWII, ~ 80,000 Communist Party members in America – significant number of people • Loyalty Review Board – investigated the loyalties of federal employees • Investigated 3.2 million employees – 212 dismissed as security risks, 2,900 resigned • House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) – investigated other areas of society • “Hollywood Ten” – ten movie industry people who refused to testify – jailed for refusal • Hollywood blacklists ~500 actors, writers, producers, directors for having Communist ties • McCarran Act – Congress passes (over Truman’s veto) law that made it illegal to plan any action that might lead to totalitarian dictatorship

3. Spies! • Alger Hiss – former Communist spy accused Hiss of passing him government documents • Statute of limitations up on espionage charges, but Hiss WAS convicted of perjury (lying about passing documents) • 1990’s Soviet cables released by the NSA prove he was guilty • Ethel and Julius Rosenberg • Implicated in aiding in passing nuclear secrets to Soviets • First U.S. civilians executed for espionage

4. McCarthyism! • Senator Joseph McCarthy claimed to have lists of names of people in the government with Communist ties • Never produced said names • Never showed any evidence of supposed Communist infiltration • Conveniently, only ever made charges in Senate chambers – immunity from prosecution for slander • After accusations against U.S. Army brought televised hearings, America turned on McCarthy the bully • Condemned by the Senate as well

5. “Brinksmanship” • Race between America and Russia to develop H-Bomb (~67 ties as powerful as Hiroshima) • USA wins the race, but Soviets follow less than a year later • USA and Russia both build up stockpiles of bombs and the airplanes that will deliver them

6. Warsaw Pact and Eisenhower Doctrine • Warsaw Pact – Soviet military alliance with seven Eastern European nations – counterweight to NATO • Eisenhower Doctrine • Response to Suez War (conflict over control of Suez Canal in Egypt) • Eisenhower promises to defend Middle East against any communist aggression • Hungary uprising • Revolution in Hungary to expel strong Soviet interests is crushed harshly by Russia • USA does nothing to help

7. Space Race and U2 Incident • Nikita Khrushchev – eventually filled vacuum after Stalin’s death – believed that Communism would dominate the world, but felt that economic and scientific competition would determine who was best • Space Race – Russia launches Sputnik – first artificial satellite • U-2 Incident – American’s flying high-altitude infra-red spying missions over Russia. Final U-2 flight shot down weeks before planned summit between Eisenhower and Khrushchev • Pilot is arrested and imprisoned, Eisenhower forced to admit we were spying, but refuses to apologize. • Khrushchev cancels summit – more tension