Cold War America

Ch 13.3

Thursday, May 10, 2012

• Daily goal: Understand how the fear of Communism changed American Society.

Loyalty Review Program

• Fear of communist infiltration in the gov’t lead Truman to start a program to screen all federal employees.

House Un-American Activities Committee

• J. Edgar Hoover created HUAC to investigate suspected Communists in America.

Alger Hiss

• was investigated by HUAC and was the first major gov’t official found guilty of perjury and suspected a Communist.

• Confirmed American’s fears of Communist subversion in the gov’t.

The Rosenbergs

• Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were accused of selling secrets of the Atomic bomb to the Soviets.

• The Rosenbergs were sentenced to death with little evidence and became an example of the anti-communist frenzy.

McCarthyism

• Senator Joseph McCarthy began a witch hunt and accused people in the gov’t of being Communists.

• His tactic of damaging reputations with vague and unfounded charges became know as McCarthyism.

Think About it…

• How do you think Americans felt when they learned the Soviet Union had develop their own Atomic Bomb?

Duck and Cover

• Students were taught to “Duck and cover” in the event of a Nuclear blast.

• The deadly radiation left over after a Nuclear blast was called fallout.

• Americans were taught to hide in Fallout Shelters to escape nuclear fallout.