Monday, May 9, 2011

timeline

Right after WWII as the communism was taking control of Eastern Europe, many americans feared that they might also tried to take over the United States. The HUAC was a group created by the government of the U.S. during WWII to watch alleged people that were passing valuable information from military secrets to other countries. The HUAC began not only to watch the alleged “spies” but they began a new project which was to destroy communism at all in the united states. Once more comments about communism were flying around the FBI agents involved by tapped phone lines, listening to conversations between suspected “reds”

In 1947 the HUAC focus its attention in the glamorous movie industry of all America Hollywood. Looking for actors, writers, and film directors who they thought could be communists.

In the fall of 1947 HUAC called on 43 witnesses to testify about Hollywood’s communism.

In November of 1947 announced that they will not employed any communist in their industries.

March 29, 1951 Spies like Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were found guilty of espionage after they negated.

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed on June 19, 1953. Many American supported the Rosenberg’s execution.

February 9, 1950 Joseph McCarthy a US senator from Wisconsin made a speech explaining the fact that 205 government workers who were members of the American Communists Party.

1951 McCarthy attacked former secretary of state George C. Marshall.

January 1953 Dwight became president. Dwight was on McCarthy list.

December 2,1954 us senate passed a censure motion .

1957 McCarthy died from alcoholism

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Effect of the red scare & McCarthyism in the U.S.

The second red scare stared in 1947 and was related in the growing fear of communist and many panicked and accused innocent people of being communist. Civil rights were tested and found to be insignificant during a time of crisis. One effect that McCarthyism did in the U.S.A. was that he had the power to put the people in jail, also he can take jobs away from the people, the reason of that was just because the people are anticommunist or they look like that.

Impact on US and US Foreign Policy

People in the United States learned that they had to be very careful about what they said to whom. Gossip and rumor could ruin an individual real quick. Americans lived in fear of Communist spies. Through this, many lost their jobs due to suspicion that they were Communists or friendly with Communists. People were investigated and an un-official blacklists ran through Hollywood as well as the radio and television industries. Stories about Communism ran through the newspapers and Communism became a subject for moviw and television. The Second Red Scare caused Communism to be everywhere.

Historical Overview

  • Cause
During the late 1940s, several news events, such as the trial of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg for treason, the acquisition of an atomic bomb by the Soviet Union, and the beginning of Korean War, caught the public attention. These events had a noticeable effect on the opinions of Americans in general regarding their own security, and made people concerned about the inevitable nuclear war with the Soviet Union. The belief of communist spies were constantly working to bring the downfall of the United States was widespread as well. The anti-Communists used actions by the Soviet Union and China as evidence of the evil of Communism, the Soviet Union had rapidly and forcefully spread its influence into Eastern Europe following the Second World War.

Vocabulary

McCarthyism-- This term is based on the actions of Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy during 1940s and 1950s.  This was a period in history when people were freaked out by communists because of the Cold War.
Example: McCarthyism signifies the extreme anti-Communist movement that occurred in the United States. People were accused of being communists, put in jail, fired, kept from being job, and sometimes worse.


The Red Scare-- The Red Scare is the applied term given to a time in which Americans feared Communist influence in the United States from 1917 to 1920.
Example: McCarthyism is associated with the Red Scare and often referred to as the Second Red Scare. McCarthyism brought about the Second Red Scare in the United States in the late 1940s. The scare was that Soviet Union would spread communists all over the world.


Espionage-- The practice of obtaining secrets (spying) from rivals or enemies for military, political, or economic advantage using illegal or unethical methods.
Example: For the United States, espionage was a fact of war. Information was a commodity just as important as steel or oil, and the United States worked hard to keep it protected. Despite the Soviet Union's wartime designation as an ally, Russian espionage had long been a concern for American political and military officials.


Containment-- Containment was a United States policy using military, economic, and diplomatic strategies to moderate the spread of Communism, and enhance America’s security and influence abroad. 
Example: During Cold WProxy-Connection: keep-alive
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, the Containment policy was a response to a series of moves by the Soviet Union to expand communist influence in Eastern Europe, China, Korea and Vietnam.



Reds-- It referred to Communists during the McCarthyism period.
Example: Joseph McCarthy was a Senator who ruined the careers of many people by calling them Communists, or "Reds", without sufficient proof. In 1950, Senator Joseph McCarthy began to accuse high-ranking US officials of being Communists, or of selling secrets to the Russians. Some government employees were found guilty of passing on secrets about the Atom Bomb. But McCarthy eventually lost popularity, and then power, as his accusations grew wider and cruder each day. All of this simply served to increase tension between the two superpowers, the US and the Soviet Union.

Bibliography