| The Red Scare, McCarthyism and the Impact of the Cold War (1944-1954) |
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Sections:- Context: American Fear in a Post War Environment
- Communist Expansion in Asia
- The Rosenbergs, Alger Hiss, and Atomic Secrets
- House Un-American Activities Committee
- The Rise of Senator Joseph McCarthy
- McCarthy Hearings
- Opposition to McCarthyism
- Downfall: Edward R. Murrow and "See it Now"
- Downfall: The Army McCarthy Hearings
- Censure
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| Historical Context
Following the Second World War, the combatant nations largely separated into armed camps defined by ideology. The Cold War began nearly as soon as the fighting stopped, acknowledged in Winston Churchill’s “Iron Curtain Speech” in Fulton, Missouri on 5 March 1946. The twelve Western democracies, dominated by the United States, founded the North Atlantic Treaty Association as a mutual defense organization in 1949. In response, the communist nations, dominated by the Soviet Union, formed the Warsaw Pact in 1955. This alignment would serve as the basic framework of the Cold War over the next fifty years.
A photograph of Stalin is included below along with a map of alliances during the cold war.
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| Historical Context
Shortly after the defeat of Japan in the Second World War, China resumed its civil war. In 1949, communist forces, led by Mao Zedong, expelled the government of Chiang Kai-Shek to the island of Taiwan and formed the Peoples’ Republic of China. In the United States, the adoption of communism in China was viewed as evidence of Soviet expansionism, though later documents showed that the Soviets had little to do with it. The fears of many Americans were only reinforced in 1950 when communist North Korea invaded South Korea. The United States, under the auspices of the United Nations, intervened in the conflict and soon found itself facing hundreds of thousands of Chinese “volunteers.” The Truman and Eisenhower administrations, rather than risk a major war with the Chinese, allowed the war to devolve into an uneasy stalemate along the lines of the prewar conditions. Truman’s unwillingness to fight a larger war with China fueled attacks from the right that he was soft on communism.
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| Historical Context
At the close of the Second World War, the United States was the only nation armed with atomic weapons. This advantage was short lived however. The American physics and nuclear community was riddled with spies, most of whom, rather than having any ideological sympathy for communism, simply believed that, to deter its use, no nation should have a monopoly on such a horrible weapon. At the Yalta Conference, when President Roosevelt told Churchill and Stalin of the Atomic Bomb, Stalin already knew through Soviet spies. In fact, Stalin knew of the Atomic Bomb before Vice-President Truman, who was kept in the dark by Roosevelt. The Soviets exploded their first atomic bomb in 1949 and their first, far more powerful, hydrogen bomb in 1955.
Subsequently, a series of spy scandals rocked American government. Alger Hiss, a bright up and coming State Department attaché who had accompanied Roosevelt to Yalta, was implicated by Time Magazine editor Whittaker Chambers of passing secrets to the Soviets. Convinced that Soviet spies would steal his evidence in order to protect Hiss, Chambers hid the microfilm in a hollowed out pumpkin, thereby earning his evidence the moniker “the pumpkin papers.” At trial, Hiss was twice acquitted of treason, though he was convicted of perjury. This distinction did not matter to many of Hiss’ critics on the right, who continued to label him a traitor and, believing that Roosevelt had given too much to Stalin, suspected Hiss of Soviet subversion at the Yalta Conference.
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, a young couple living in New York, were arrested for conspiracy to commit treason in helping Soviet agents ferret atomic secrets out of the United States. While they were both members of the Communist Party, the espionage charge was far more dubious. All the same, they were convicted of treason, largely on the strength of the vigorous prosecution presented by Roy Cohn. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed in the electric chair on 19 June 1953. Attached Photographs
1. Alger Hiss
2.Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
3. Roy Cohn
4. Venona Intercept
5. Soviet Atomic Bomb Test, 1949
6. Soviet Hydrogen Bomb Test, 1955
Question to consider
1. Should the death penalty be applicable for espionage in peace time?
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| Historical Context
In 1947, under the leadership Representative J. Parnell Thomas (R NY), The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) undertook an investigation of alleged communist infiltration in the motion picture industry. Following the experience of the Second World War, Washington was open to the possibility of communist propaganda buried within popular films, particularly as Hollywood made a number of films favorable to Soviet allies during the war.
A Congressional Committee hearing is not a criminal prosecution and, therefore, does not work in the same way as the criminal justice system. The standards of evidence are largely at the discretion of the committee chair. In the case of HUAC, hearsay, innuendo, and rumor were perfectly acceptable forms of evidence. HUAC called nineteen “friendly witnesses,” including Ronald Reagan, Gary Cooper, Ayn Rand, and Walt Disney, who were allowed to read prepared statements denouncing communism. HUAC then called nineteen “unfriendly witnesses” who were grilled about their political affiliations. Ten of the “unfriendly witnesses” cited their Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination and refused to testify. HUAC decided however that the Fifth Amendment did not apply in its hearings so those refusing to testify, branded the “Hollywood Ten” by the press, were imprisoned for contempt of Congress. When released, they were blacklisted by Hollywood producers from working in films.
From 1951 to 1954, HUAC, now directed by John S. Wood (D GA), undertook another investigation of Hollywood. Through pressing witnesses to “name names,” HUAC claimed to have identified 324 communists working in the motion picture industry. Of these 324, 212 were still active in the film industry and were blacklisted by the film producers. Attached Documents
The first document below is Ronald Reagan's testimony in front to HUAC. The second testimony is from Walt Disney. The final testimony is from Gary Cooper. The photograph is of Ronald Reagan during his testimony.
Question to consider
1. Do you think that movies can indoctrinate people?
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Joseph McCarthy was elected to the Senate from Wisconsin in 1946. He was known as a rabid anti-communist and, shortly into his Senate career, began to allege communist infiltration into the American government. On 20 February 1950, McCarthy made a six hour Senate speech claiming that the Democratic Party had been engaged in twenty years of treason and, though absurd, that Secretary of State Dean Acheson and Secretary of Defense General George Marshall had communist sympathies. Most dismissed this as a partisan stunt, an attempt to rally Republican support in the 1950, Congressional elections, but McCarthy and President Truman repeatedly traded barbs through the press.
In 1952, the Republicans gained control of the Senate. Now with the power to assign committee leadership, the Republicans named McCarthy as Chairman of the Senate Sub-Committee on Investigations. Over the next several years, McCarthy would use this position to hold public hearings into communist infiltration in American government. McCarthy named Roy Cohn the chief of staff.Attached Documents
The first photograph below is of Dean Acheson. The second is George Marshall. The third resource is a series of exchanges between Truman and McCarthy over HUAC activities. The final resource is a video of President Truman talking about Senator McCarthy.
Question to consider
1. Is it dangerous for politicians to appeal to fear?
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In the Senate Sub-Committee for Investigations, Senator McCarthy and Chief of Staff Cohn applied the methods of HUAC onto the American government, military, and defense industry. Claiming that the Democratic Party had committed twenty years of treason--the administrations of Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman—by allowing the Soviets to make gains in Europe and Asia, McCarthy attacked the diplomatic corps. According to McCarthy’s own numbers, his investigations drove 400 suspected communists from the American government, though, in reality, few were guilty of anything more than liberal politics or associations.
Attached Documents
A video of Own Lattimore's testimony appears below. The first photograph is of Senator McCarthy. The second is of McCarthy with Roy Cohn. The third is Senator Nixon with Senator McCarthy.
Question to consider
1. Should Congressional invesigations be televised? Does this increase the potential for grandstanding and tarnishing an innocent person's name?
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Despite McCarthy’s tactics, a few courageous individuals and organizations began to speak out. Collier’s magazine published a critical editorial, in 1950, before McCarthy reached the pinnacle of his power, Senator Margaret Chase Smith, a Republican from Maine, criticized his tactics as being detrimental to individual freedom.
In March 1954, McCarthy began to investigate Annie Lee Moss, a middle aged African American woman who worked as administrative support in the Army Signal Corps. As often happened in the McCarthy hearings, the case was built on innuendo and hearsay. The case against Moss was built entirely on the fact that an informant once reported seeing the name Annie Lee Moss on a membership roll of the Communist Party. For this, Moss lost her job with the Army, was dragged before McCarthy’s hearings, and publicly interrogated on national television.
Missouri Senator Stuart Symington was appalled. He pointed out that there were four Annie Lee Mosses listed in the Washington D.C. phonebook and that there was no indication that this was the proper one. Furthermore, Symington asked Moss to read from the hearing transcript. Her difficulty in reading, while humiliating on national television, demonstrated that Moss would have been incapable of the sort of complicated espionage of which McCarthy accused her. The first document below is an address from Senator Chase-Smith opposing McCarthy. This article is followed by a Collier's article on the same subject. The photos below are as follows:
1. Senator Margaret Chase Smith
2. Annie Lee Moss
3. Senator Stuart Symington
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| Historical Context
The downfall of Senator McCarthy would begin on 20 October 1953 on Edward R. Murrow’s CBS television newsmagazine “See it Now.” Rather than attack McCarthy directly, which would have been disastrous, Murrow and director Fred Friendly did a story on Milo Radulovich, an Air Force officer from Michigan who had lost his commission because of the communist leanings of his father and sister. Though Radulovich was given an Air Force administrative hearing where he had an opportunity to defend himself, he was not allowed to see the evidence against him, making it nearly impossible to mount an effective defense. Though McCarthy was not involved in the Radulovich case, with their emphasis on secret evidence and guilt by association, Murrow and Friendly were clearly attempting to draw a parallel with the McCarthy hearings. After its exposure on “See it Now,” the Air Force reinstated Radulovich.
Murrow and Friendly’s next attack on McCarthy was not nearly as oblique. On 9 March 1954, “See it Now” took on McCarthy directly. Using his own words against him, Murrow and Friendly demonstrated McCarthy’s inconsistencies and fabrications. In an extended portion, they documented McCarthy’s bullying treatment of Annie Lee Moss.
CBS News offered McCarthy equal airtime to refute the charges, an offer the Senator took advantage of on 6 April 1954. If Murrow and Friendly’s attack was damaging for the Senator, McCarthy’s defense of himself was devastating. In a rambling, often incoherent, diatribe, McCarthy, rather than refute their allegations, attacked Murrow, Friendly, and CBS News, confirming, for many, what had been reported. The first document below is the See It Now from March 9, 1954 followed by a transcript of that broadcast. The third document below is an audio recording of McCarthy's appearance on See It Now followed by a transcript of that broadcast. The fifth resource below is Edward R. Murrow. The final resource is a photograph of Fred Friendly.
Question to consider:
1. What could have happened to Murrow and Friendly for taking on McCarthy?
2. What impression of McCarthy do you get from these recordings?
3. Why do you think people believed him?
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| Historical Context
In 1953, McCarthy began an investigation of the automatic promotion of an Army dentist with leftist political views. At first, the Army refused to participate, which outraged McCarthy who promptly alleged a Pentagon cover-up of communists in the Army. Eventually, the Army relented and sent Brigadier General Zwicker to McCarthy’s hearing.
Zwicker was treated no better than any other witness before McCarthy’s committee. McCarthy repeatedly insulted both the general and the Army to the extent that Zwicker threatened to resign. Army Chief of Staff Stevens was outraged, and he forbade any Army officer from appearing before McCarthy’s committee.
Rather than simply refuse to participate in the hearings, the Army counter-attacked. On 11 March 1954, the Army released a memo detailing the efforts that McCarthy and Cohn made to secure an Army commission for drafted McCarthy staffer David Schine. This information combined nicely with a 15 December 1953 report by Drew Pearson, gossip columnist of the Washington Post, that Schine was Cohn’s homosexual lover.
With such an allegation of improper use of his office, the Senate Sub-Committee on Investigations was now turned onto McCarthy. While under investigation, McCarthy was temporarily forced to relinquish his chairmanship to North Dakota Senator Mundt.
The Army McCarthy hearings were broadcast live on national television, one of the first events to receive such coverage. McCarthy now alleged that the investigation was a conspiracy to protect communists that, by virtue of their opposition, now extended to the Army, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, and even to President Eisenhower. Senator Mundt however, temporary chairman of the committee, would not allow McCarthy the latitude necessary for such outlandish claims.
The star of the hearing turned out to be Joseph Welch, a Boston attorney employed by the Army. With McCarthy no longer the chairman, Welch was able to get Mundt to demand that McCarthy turn over his feared list of communists to the FBI. When McCarthy counterattacked, claiming that Welch had communist sympathies because he employed a staffer at his law practice who was once a member of the Lawyer’s Guild, a liberal attorney’s group that McCarthy considered communist, Welch pounced, offering one of the most famous statements in American history: “Have you no sense of decency sir? At long last, have you no sense of decency?” A sound recording of the Welch-McCarthy exchange follows below along with a transcript of the encounter. The photographs are as follows:
1. Time Magazine cover of Cohn and Schine.
2. Drew Pearson
3. Senator Karl Mundt
4. Joseph Welch Questions to consider:
1. What do you think is the best argument made by Welch in the exchange? |
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| Historical Context
In the Congressional elections of November 1954, the Democrats regained control of the Senate. Though the Democrats would not take power until January, on 2 December 1954 the Senate voted 67-22 to censure Senator McCarthy. Furthermore, the Republican leadership stripped McCarthy of his committee chairmanship. With McCarthy no longer in control, Cohn was fired as the committee chief of staff. When the Democrats took control, McCarthy was marginalized further; when McCarthy would enter a room, any other Senators present would leave. McCarthy continued to serve in the Senate until his death in 1957 at the age of 49 from complications of alcoholism.The official censure of McCarthy follows below. Questions to consider:
1. What do you think was the most damning piece of evidence against McCarthy?
2. Can you find a motive for McCarthy's actions?
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