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AN ERA OF FEAR

AN ERA OF FEAR. Truman wants to prove he’s taking the Communist threat seriously, so he institutes…. Loyalty Review Boards.

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AN ERA OF FEAR

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  1. AN ERA OF FEAR

  2. Truman wants to prove he’s taking the Communist threat seriously, so he institutes…

  3. Loyalty Review Boards Government employees were investigated and needed to prove that they are loyal to the US Government – how do you prove that? You sign an oath. If not signed you were fired

  4. HUAC • The House Un-American Activities Committee was one of the organizations formed to investigate communist influence. They chose to focus on the movie industry, believing that Hollywood was sneaking Communist propaganda into its films. And of course, because it was Hollywood, the trials were highly publicized.

  5. The House Committee on Un-American Activities Investigates the Hollywood Movie Industry!! Live on Television!

  6. 10 Unfriendly Witnesses Dubbed the “Hollywood 10” refused to answer questions based on their un-Constitutionality (goes against Freedom of Speech!) and were sent to prison and blacklisted.

  7. McCarran Act • Congress decided to jump on the hysteria bandwagon that HUAC was creating, and passed the McCarran Act. This made it illegal to plan anything that might lead to a totalitarian dictatorship in the U.S. – Truman vetoed it because he believed that you can’t punish Americans for opinions they have, only crimes they commit.” It passed anyways, and changed many things, including immigration, in the U.S.

  8. Spies Make Headlines!! Julius & Ethel Rosenberg Alger Hiss Congressman Nixon pursues the case against Hiss…

  9. Alger Hiss • Hiss, a State Department official, was called out by a former Communist spy, who claimed that Hiss had passed secrets to the Soviets. Evidence was produced that could have been typed in Hiss’s typewriter, so he was convicted and jailed. Richard Nixon, a Congressman, gained fame by prosecuting him. Americans freak! We do have spies in our government!

  10. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg • More newsworthy than the Hiss case was the Soviet explosion of their 1st atom bomb! They had to have gotten our secrets, but how? Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, minor communist activists, were named as spies. They claimed they were being persecuted for being Jews who held radical beliefs, but Americans didn’t care – the Soviets had the bomb and someone needed to take the responsibility! When sentencing them to death, the Judge claimed that what the Rosenbergs did was “worse than murder.” They were the 1st U.S. civilians executed for espionage.

  11. This Senator from Wisconsin desperately needs a campaign idea to win the next election…

  12. McCarthy’s tactics… accuse people without evidence!

  13. McCarthyism • The hysteria that Joseph McCarthy led, named McCarthyism, was based on him claiming to have lists (containing various numbers, depending on when you asked him) of communist party members in our government. He never provided evidence, because the hysteria was enough to cause doubt…

  14. McCarthy’s Downfall • McCarthy finally took his hysteria too far when he accused prominent U.S. Army members. His televised hearings without evidence, where he bullied the witnesses, cost him his reputation, and American support. The Senate publically condemned McCarthy, who died three years later from alcoholism.

  15. Overview of the Red Scare • During the course of anti-communist hysteria in America, the government investigated journalists, teachers, scientists and librarians. Nobody was safe. People were afraid to sign petitions quoting the Declaration of Independence for fear that it might be seen as subversive. No occupation was safe, no ideas harmless…

  16. The Crucible • Arthur Miller wrote “The Crucible” in reaction to McCarthyism when he was put on trial for suspicion of being Communist. He used the Salem Witch Trials as a metaphor for McCarthyism. So…how do they relate?

  17. Daily uncertainty – Cold War, Nuclear War Reality – Alger Hiss and Rosenbergs convicted as spies! Someone to exploit it – Joseph McCarthy Victims – Individualists Reason to Hate – Arrogance and Influence Public Forum – HUAC Hearings Guilt by – Suspicion, Association Daily uncertainty – economic crunch Reality – Tituba practicing witchcraft Someone to exploit it – Reverend Parris, religious leaders Victims – Liberals Reason to Hate – Arrogance and Influence Public Forum – Court Room Guilt by – Suspicion, Association McCarthyism The Crucible

  18. The H-Bomb 10x more powerful than our greatest estimates

  19. The Brink of War • With the Soviets having exploded their atom bomb, the U.S. felt it necessary to build a bigger, better bomb. The hydrogen bomb (67 times more powerful than the a-bomb dropped on Hiroshima) was completed in 1952.

  20. Soviets are Right Behind Us! Andrei Sakharov is the designer of the Soviet H-Bomb, tested less than a year after the US tests theirs. It seemed as though Khruschev, the new Soviet leader, would be friendlier to the West than Stalin was… but we still held the belief of massive retaliation…

  21. John Foster Dulles – Secretary of State “If a Nation would dare to attack us, or perchance one of our allies, with a force of X, it would become incumbent upon us to respond with a force of 2X. Needless to say, we would retaliate at a time of our choosing, in a place of our choosing, and in a method of our choosing. This is what we would like to call 'Massive Retaliation'.” The American policy of brinkmanship is born – willingness to go to the brink of all-out nuclear war.

  22. Keeping an eye out • To ensure that the Americans were always ahead of the Soviets, it required massive amounts of intelligence – gathered by spies. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was created specifically for this purpose. While they were gathering information, they also carried out secret operations to weaken or overthrow governments unfriendly to the U.S.

  23. We were worried that this could shoot as us from the sky!!!... Sputnik • As proof that the Soviet technology was not only as great as ours, but better…on October 4, 1957 they launched the first artificial satellite into space. Americans, worried for our safety with Soviet technology orbiting above, poured millions of dollars into our own satellite, which we launched January of 1958.

  24. Confrontation • In an effort to gather as much information as possible about our enemy, the United States sent many spy planes over the Soviet territories, taking pictures. These U-2 planes were highly successful, until one was shot down. The pilot was captured and imprisoned for 10 years, evidence gained, and Americans had to admit we were spying. Any kind of friendly relations we’d had, were now totally gone.

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