Chapter 19
Section 4
The Cold War
At Home
Another Red Scare
The Cold War had a huge impact on the U.S.
 Congress came up with the National Security Council to
advise the president on strategic matters
 Congress replaced the War Department with the Department
of Defense, combining all the branches of the military under
the Joint Chiefs of Staff
 It also established the CIA to gather information
 Although Truman obviously was opposed to communism,
some Republicans accused him of allowing Communists in
the U.S. government
 Truman responded by setting up the Loyalty Review Board to
investigate all government employees
 By the end 20,000 were investigated, 2,000 resigned and
more than 300 were fired
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*open source describes a broad general type of software license that makes source code available to the general public with relaxed or non-existent copyright restrictions.
Continued….
Leading Congress in the fight against communism
in the U.S. was the House Un-American
Activities Committee
 The HUAC investigated and questioned peace
organizations, liberal political groups and even
Hollywood
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{A group of directors and writers known as the
Hollywood Ten chose jail rather than answer the
HUAC questions,} for this they were blacklisted
The hysteria created by the HUAC spread quickly
Any group or person that spoke out against the
HUAC being undemocratic were investigated
The Hollywood Ten
*For those of you who are paying enough attention to notice there are 12 men in the picture; the two men on either side in the front row are their lawyers
The Search for Spies
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In 1948, {a lawyer named Alger Hiss was accused
of being a Communist spy and giving federal
documents to the Soviets}
When Hess sued his accuser, Whittaker Chambers,
for slander, Whittaker produced copies of
documents that proved Hess had lied to the HUAC.
 Hiss was convicted of perjury and sentenced to 5
years in prison
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{In 1951 a court convicted Julius and Ethel
Rosenberg of providing the Soviets with atomic
energy secrets during WWII}
Despite the testimony that they were innocent
victims of the anti-red hysteria and world wide
protests, the Rosenbergs were executed in June of
1953
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, convicted
of passing nuclear weapons secrets to
the Soviet Union, were the first
American civilians executed for
espionage. Ethel's brother, David
Greenglass, who was an employee of
the Los Alamos atomic bomb project,
passed secrets to Julius and Ethel,
who then funneled them to the
Soviets. At 8:05 pm on June 19, 1953,
Julius was executed. Ten minutes later
Ethel was also executed, although the
first 57-second jolt of electricity failed
to kill her. She received two more
before being pronounced dead.
Controversy about the Rosenberg case
persists to this day, especially about
the degree of Ethel's actual
involvement in the espionage and the
appropriateness of death as the
penalty for her.
McCarthyism
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Wisconsin Senator, Joseph McCarthy helped to
escalade the red scare
In 1950 McCarthy claimed to possess a list of
Communists who worked for the State Department
Although he never produced a list of any kind and had
no evidence dozens of people lost their jobs and
hundreds of reputations were ruined by McCarthy’s
accusations
Out of fear of communism and the Soviet Union many
supported his crusade
One who did challenge him was Maine Senator,
Margaret Chase Smith who along with others issued
the Declaration of Conscience which condemned those
who turned the Senate into “a forum of hate and
character assassination”
Senator Joseph McCarthy
Senator Margaret Chase
Smith
McCarthy’s Downfall
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The few who did come out to criticize McCarthy did so in the
form of the arts
Playwright Arthur Miller, compared McCarthyism to the Salem
Witch Trials in The Crucible
Newscaster Edward R. Murrow questioned McCarthy’s ethics
and tactics on the TV program See It Now
In 1954, McCarthy stated that there were Communists in the
U.S. Army
Each day the American public tuned their TV’s in to the ArmyMcCarthy hearings
McCarthy was publicly viewed relentlessly slandering, bullying
and ridiculing high ranking war heroes
The 35 days of hearings never produced any evidence to back
up McCarthy’s claims
A few months later the Senate condemned McCarthy for
conduct unbecoming a Senator
Nuclear Anxiety
The increased conflict between the U.S. and the S.U.
led to a race to develop more powerful nuclear
weapons
 In 1950 U.S. scientists began the development of the
Hydrogen Bomb claiming it would be 1,000 times
stronger that the A-bomb
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{The first test of an H-bomb by the U.S. in 1952,
completely decimated an island in the Pacific} (by
decimated I mean gone, no longer exists at all.)
 Nine months later the Soviet Union tested its own Hbomb
Religion and Nuclear War
Fear of a nuclear war turned many people to
seek comfort in religion
 Evangelists such as Billy Graham, urged
Americans to turn to God. Church memberships
grew rapidly
 Reflecting this religious zeal, Congress added
“one nation under God” to the Pledge of
Allegiance and “In God we Trust” to coins
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Nuclear Fallout
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While the thought of an H-bomb was scary enough, the
thought of radioactive fallout- a by-product of nuclear
explosions, was worse
Out of this, shelter manufacturers came about.
For about $1500, you got a concrete and steel igloo that
contained flashlights, a first aid kit, a battery radio, portable
toilet, 2 weeks worth of food and water.
In 1957, Congress held a hearing about the dangers of
radioactive fallout.
Defense officials claimed that nuclear testing was safe.
Scientists disagreed
At the hearing experts testified to the effects of nuclear testing
on the environment and cancer and other health risks in
humans
Soon after a campaign against nuclear testing emerged
Space Programs
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As the arms race was progressing, a new race began
In October 1957, {the S.U. launched Sputnik the first artificial
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This worried Americans, leading them to think that the S.U. was
more technologically advanced
Then in November, the S.U. launched Sputnik II which had a
dog aboard.
The craft orbited Earth for almost 200 days. (its crappy life
support system kept the dog alive for only a couple of days)
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satellite}
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{In January 1958, the U.S. sent up its first satellite Explorer I}
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{In 1958, Congress approved the National Defense
Education Act which gave millions of dollars to improve
education in science, math and foreign languages}
starting the space race.
 Soon, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA) was created
< Sputnik I
V Sputnik II
^ Explorer I