The Red Scare (1950s)

1. HUAC

The House Un-American Activities Committee investigated Communist influence in the movie industry. Ten men, the Hollywood Ten, who refused to cooperate because they believed that the hearings were unconstitutional were sent to prison.

2. Blacklist

A list of people who Hollywood executives condemned for having a Communist background. The people on the list had their careers ruined because they could no longer work.

3. Alger Hiss

He was accused, by a former Communist spy named Whittaker Chambers, of spying for the Soviet Union. In the end he was convicted of perjury and sent to jail. He claimed he was innocent and that Chambers forged the papers, which Chambers claimed came out of Hiss's typewriter. There was no stable evidence.

4. Ethel and Julius Rosenberg

Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were minor activists in the American Communist Party, who were persecuted for their Jewish religion and radical beliefs. They were found guilty of espionage and sentenced to death even though the evidence was too weak. They became the first two U.S. citizens executed for espionage.

5. Joseph McCarthy

Joseph McCarthy was Senator of Wisconsin and a famous anti-communist activist. He was known as an ineffective legislator and needed a winning issue to be reelected so he claimed Communists were taking over the government.

6. McCarthyism

McCarthyism is the attacks, often unsubstantiated, by Senator Joseph McCarthy and others on people suspected of being Communists in the early 1950s.

7. In a paragraph, describe the motivations and actions of Joseph McCarthy during the 1950s. What prompted his actions? What did he do? What happened as a result of his actions?

Joseph McCarthy was known as an ineffective legislator and needed a winning issue to be reelected so he claimed Communists were taking over the government. He took advantage of people's fear of communism. McCarthy accused others of being Communists without supporting evidence. His attacks became known as McCarthyism and are now referred to the unfair tactic of accusing people of disloyalty without evidence. The Republicans did not do much to stop McCarthy's attacks because they believed it would help him to win the 1952 presidential election but a small group of senators did speak out. Finally McCarthy saw his downfall when he made accusations against the U.S. Army. The senate investigation was televised and his bullying of witnesses led him to lose public support.