The Cold War and
American Society
Chapter 26 Section 3
The Red Scare
Rumors that Communists had gotten into the US
and were trying to take over the world
 Why?

– September 1945 – Igor Gouzenko walked out of the
Soviet Embassy in Canada and defected
– Igor had documents that revealed a massive effort by
the Soviets to infiltrate organizations and govt.
agencies in Canada and the US
– Specific Goal  obtain information about the atomic
bomb
US Fear

Igor’s case stunned Americans
– Implied spies had reached the US govt.

The search for spies soon escalated into a
general fear of Communist subversion
– Subversion – effort to secretly weaken a
society and over throw its govt.
Screening for Enemies

Loyalty review program
– Established by Truman
– Job – to screen all federal employees
– Goal – to calm public suspicion
– Effect – only increases the fear in Americans
that communism was sweeping the nation
How to Screen?

Screening for loyalty was difficult…
– No specific regulations or rules
– People could be suspect for …
 Reading certain books
 Belonging to certain groups
 Traveling overseas
 Seeing certain foreign films, etc.
– Approximately 2,200 govt. employees quit
their jobs or were fired
 No actual evidence against them was ever found
Alger Hiss

1948 – Whittaker Chambers, Time magazine
editor, testified that there were several govt.
officials who were former Communists or spies
– Alger Hiss – most prominent govt. official named by
Chambers

Alger Hiss was…
– Lawyer and diplomat that served in FDR’s
administration
– Attended Yalta Conference
– Took part in organizing the UN

Hiss denied ever meeting Chambers
Infiltration

Chambers claimed that Hiss had given
him…
– Secret documents from the State Dept. along
w/ microfilm
– Chambers hid this in a hollow pumpkin on his
farm  “pumpkin papers”

These papers proved that Hiss was lying
and a jury convicted Hiss of perjury
The Rosenberg's

The concern – American Communists had sold
the secrets of the atomic bomb
– 1950 – hunt led to Klaus Fuchs
 British scientist that admitted sending info to the Soviets

Fuchs’s testimony led the FBI to arrest Julius
and Ethel Rosenberg
– A New York couple who were members of the
Communist Party

Charge against them – heading a Soviet spy ring
– They denied the charges but were condemned to
death for espionage
– The couple was executed in 1953
Project Venona

The goal of the project was to crack the
Soviet spy code
– In 1946 American cryptographers cracked it
Messages confirmed extensive Soviet
spying
 Project Venona’s existence was not made
public until 1995

– Venona documents provided strong evidence
that the Rosenberg's were guilty
The McCarran Act

1950 – Congress passed the Internal Security Act
(McCarran Act)
– Declared that world Communism has as its sole purpose
the est. of a totalitarian dictatorship in America
– Made it illegal to combine, conspire, or agree w/ any
person who may contribute to the est. of a totalitarian
govt.
– Required all Communist Party members to register w/ the
US attorney general and publish their records
– Allowed the arrest and detention of Communists and
sympathizers in case of a national emergency

Truman vetoed the bill, but Congress easily passed
over his veto
– Later, Supreme Court cases ensured that the McCarran
Act would never be effective
McCarthy
Joseph R. McCarthy – Wisconsin senator
 During a speech McCarthy said he had a
list of 205 men in the State Dept. who
were members of the Communist party
and of the Soviet spy ring

– He said these men were known to the
Secretary of State and still working in govt.

The list never appeared, but McCarthy
continued to make charges and draw
attention
McCarthy’s Tactics

McCarthy turned the govts. Communist
investigation into a witch hunt
– Search for disloyalty based on flimsy evidence and
irrational fears

McCarthyism – his tactics of damaging
reputations w/ vague and unfounded charges
– Badger witnesses and then refuse to accept their
answers

People were afraid to challenge him in fear of
b/c targets themselves
McCarthy’s Downfall

1954 McCarthy b/g to look for Soviet spies in the US
army
– The army conducted its own internal investigation and
found no spies

McCarthy was mad at the denial and took his
investigation to television
– Army-McCarthy hearings – Spring of 1954
– Millions of Americans watched McCarthy bully witnesses
 His popular support started to fade

The Senate passes a vote of censure against
McCarthy
– Censure – formal disapproval – one of the most serious
criticisms it can level against a member
– McCarthy’s influence was gone and he faded from public
view
Facing the Bomb
Fear of communism and of nuclear war
dominated life for ordinary Americans
 Soviet weapons increased fear in Americans

– 1949 – SU successfully tested the atomic bomb
– 1953 – SU successfully tested the H-bomb (hydrogen
bomb)
 Less than 1 year after the US tested its H-bomb
Americans prepared for a surprise Soviet attack
 Schools set aside special areas as bomb shelters

Facing the Bomb

School Bomb Drills…
– Duck-and-cover – students learned to duck under
their desks, turn away from the windows, and cover
their heads w/ their hands
– The duck-and-cover method was supposed to protect
them from a nuclear blast

Fallout – the radiation left over after a nuclear
blast
– Experts say for every 1 person killed outright by a
nuclear blast, 4 more would die later from fallout
– Some families built fallout shelters in their yards and
stocked them w/ canned food