•Objectives:
•Describe
•Discuss
the new Red Scare.
how American society
reflected fears of the nuclear age.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.
php?storyId=1193429
NPR- memories of the fallout shelters
 3:30

Terms to know- define - NOW
Subversion
 Censure
 Perjury
 Fallout Shelter
 McCarthyism
 McCarran Act
 Alger Hiss
 Loyalty Review Program

The Cold War

With the Cold War came fears in
American society of both nuclear war
and the spread of communism and this
was reflected in the attitude and actions
of the people and government of the
United States.
Fear of Communism
Fear of communist subversion in the
American government in the late 1940’s
led to the creation of the loyalty review
board which would screen government
employees to assure their loyalty to the
USA.
 Those forced to quit because of
“questionable loyalty” never had
evidence presented to prove their
disloyalty.

HUAC etc…

FBI led by J.Edgar Hoover makes the
HUAC-( House Un-American
Activities Committee) more prominent
as they such for communist subversion
in all walks of life—including those who
are involved in the entertainment
industry.
RED SCARE!!!
Loyalty oaths required for employees of
University of California.
 Taft-Hartley Act required Union Leaders
to take an oath they were not
Communist.

Project Venona
1946 Cryptographers cracked Soviet
spy code-intercepted 3000 messages.
USA kept the fact they cracked the code
secret until 1955.
 From the code intercepts it was
apparent that the Rosenberg’s were
guilty of spying(executed in 1953).

HUAC etc…
Just being accused by this committee or by
Senator McCarthy during his investigation
could ruin your reputation and prevent you
from getting a job if you were “black listed”.
 This went on until 1954 when the Senate and
the people had enough of McCarthy and his
bulling tactics and outright attacks against
people with no concrete evidence against
them.
 The Senate would censure him, or a formal
disapproval of his actions.

McCarran Internal Security Act
McCarran Act passed in 1950
 Made it illegal to “combine, conspire,
or agree with any other person to
perform any act which would
substantially contribute to ….the
establishment of a totalitarian
government.”

Fear of Communism
In response to the USSR creating it own
H-bomb the citizens of the USA began
to build bomb/fallout shelters.
 Duck-and-cover routines were
practiced in schools as the fear of a
nuclear holocaust was in peoples minds.
 Fallout shelters became popular and
people put them in their backyards.

“Remember, in case of a nuclear fallout, just DUCK AND COVER!”