Communist Domination
 Soviet control in Eastern Europe
 Communist take over in China
100,000 Americans claimed membership in the Communist Party
 American Communist were loyal to the Soviet Union over the U.S
Anti-Communist republicans were accusing Truman of being to soft
TRUMAN BEING SOFT?
March 1947 Truman issued an executive order setting up the Federal
Employee Loyalty program
 Included Loyalty Review Board
 Its purpose was to investigate government employees and to dismiss those
who were found to be disloyal to the U.S government
 1947-1951
3.2 million employees
212 dismissed as a security risk
INVESTIGATIONS
House Un-American Activities Committee
 HUAC
 Investigating Communist influence in the movie industries
 Said that Communist were sneaking propaganda into films
Hollywood Ten
 “Un-Friendly” Witnesses called to testify but refused
 Decided not to cooperate because they believed that the hearings were
unconstitutional
 Sent to prison
Blacklist
 A response to the hearings
 A list of people whom they had condemned for having a Communist
background
 Their careers were ruined
MCCARRAN INTERNAL SECURITY ACT
Passed in 1950
It made it unlawful to plan any actions that might lead to the establishment of a totalitarian
dictatorship
Truman vetoed it
Congress will enact the law over Truman’s veto
SPIES
Alger Hiss
 Accused of spying for the Soviet Union
 State Department Official
 When accused, too many years had passed to charge him for government espionage
 Convicted him of perjury
 Sent to jail
 Richard Nixon gained fame for pursuing charges against him
 1990’s Soviet’s proved his guilt
ETHEL AND JULIUS ROSENBERG
Soviet’s atomic Bomb
Minor activist in the American Communist Party
 Asked if they were members of the communist party and they denied it
 Plead the 5th
They felt as though they were being persecuted for being both Jewish and holding racial
beliefs
They were found guilt
 Espionage
 Sentenced to death
 Electric Chair
JOSEPH MCCARTHY
Anti-Communist
Republican from Wisconsin
Said that Communist were trying to take over the government
McCarthyism
 The unfair tactic of accusing people of communist loyalty without providing evidence
Only did name calling in the Senate
Republicans did little to stop him
MCCARTHY CONTINUED
Made accusations against the U.S army
 Caused a nation wide investigation of the Senate
 3 years later McCarthy will die of Alcoholism
1953 39 states will pass a law
 Making it illegal to advocate the violent overthrow of the government