McCarthy
and
the Cold War
at home
SWBAT:
-experience the anti-Communist hysteria and suspicion of the
McCarthy era during the 1950s by participating in an activity which
creates suspicion of one another.
-describe how Americans turned on each other accusing people of
being Communists or communist sympathizers by reading and
analyzing pictures, political cartoons and readings of the time period.
Directions for simulation
Fear of communists amongst us!!!
• Pick one piece of paper ----DO NOT SHOW ANYONE YOUR
PIECE OF PAPER!!! If you show, we will stop and there will
be NO X.C.
– Look at without showing anyone else.
• If you have a pink dot on your paper, DO NOT TELL
anyone… you are trying to be the only pink dot in a group.
• If you DO NOT have a pink dot on your paper then you will be
trying to create a group without pink dots!!!
• Pink dots represent….?
• Extra Credit for the only pink dot in a group, and for groups
with NO pink dots!!
– Remember, it is a simulation and in real life you would not have a piece
of paper to show!!!
Wednesday 4/1
• R.A.P.—
– How did you feel when you discovered you
had a blank piece of paper? A dot?
– For those who had dots, how did you
convince others you were NOT a “dot”?
– For those who were accused of being a “dot,”
how did you feel? What made you fearful or
suspicious?
– What emotions fueled this activity? Can you
think of any time in history when something
like this occurred?
Title your Notes Cold War at Home
Ch. 19.2--McCarthyism
• Please open your textbook to page 640.
• Read pages 640 - 641.
– What do you believe caused anticommunist
sentiment?
• Read the following pages 641-647
– And take notes on certain activities, people,
terms, and events.
The Hunt for Communists
• As you read please take notes on the following:
– House Un-American Activities Committee or
HUAC.
– American Communist Party
– Case of Alger Hiss
• Who? What?
– Role of Whittaker Chambers
– Proof in a Pumpkin Patch
– Truman joins the Red Hunt
• McCarran Act
– Seeking U.S. Secrets
• Hollywood Ten
• RAP
Thursday 4/2
– What was the HUAC?
• Were they justified in their fear?
– Why or why not?
• Today:
• Review Ch. 19.2
• Read and answer questions for 19.3
Eisenhower. DUE Friday! 
Cold War at Home
• House Un-American
Activities Committeeformed in 1938 as an antiCommunist organization.
(McCarthy was a member)
– “Hollywood Ten”
HUAC and the Hollywood Ten
(5:32)
Anti-communism as a political
weapon
• 1946—Republican National Committee
claimed the Democrats were “soft on
communism.”
• FDR’s New Deal was “pink”
• “creeping socialism”
SPIES AT HOME
• 1949, Alger Hiss, state department employee—
convicted of espionage.
• Julius and Ethel Rosenberg — convicted of treason
and executed in 1953.
• Alger Hiss and the Rosenberg's (2:28)
• McCarran Act – in 1950 Congress passes this law
making it illegal for Americans to engage in activities
that would create a Communist government.
– Truman vetoed the bill, “in a free country, we punish men for
crimes they commit, but never for the opinions they hold.”
– Congress easily overrode the veto.
Anti-Communist Sentiment
in American Society
• “Red Menace”
• Political Discourse
– Truman’s health care
shot down
• Lawmaking
• Education
• Film Industry—
”Hollywood Ten”
– Page 648
McCarthyism
• Senator Joseph McCarthy
• Birth of McCarthyism–referred to the
use of intimidation and often
unfounded accusations in the name of
fighting communism.
• Beginning--list of 205 state
department employees who McCarthy
claimed were communists.
– Accusation dwindled to “a lot”
End of McCarthyism
• McCarthy attacks U.S.
Army
• McCarthyism (5:33)
• Communist Party
membership never
gained a foothold in the
U.S.
• In 1954, the Senate
voted to condemn
McCarthy.
• Died in 1957
Student Response
• Please select a proverb that reflects an important
lesson from the McCarthy era and write it on a blank
sheet of notebook paper. (Keep it in your notebook)
• Below the proverb create a drawing of the proverb
and then label parts of the drawing with appropriate
historical comparisons.
– “Look before you leap!”
– “People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.”
– “You can’t judge a book by its cover.”
• For extra points you can present your proverb to the
class.
• Keep it in your notebook for note check.
Please read: The Eisenhower YearsCh. 19.3: pages 652-656
Objective: Understand President Eisenhower’s accomplishments as President during the Cold War.
Describe the similarities and differences of Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy. Explain how
Kennedy was able to win the 1960 election.
Read pages 652-656 and take notes on the following.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Make a list giving examples of why people liked and trusted
Eisenhower.
Make a list describing his accomplishments as President of the U.S.
This is not in the reading, but where do you think Eisenhower got the
idea of the interstate highway system?
Describe the similarities and differences of John F. Kennedy and
Richard Nixon during the 1960s election.
Explain how television changed the Presidential campaign.
When you are finished please study for the Cold War test on Friday.
Chapters 17 and 19.