Red Scare Flashcards
What is the Truman Doctrine
This promised help to support any country resisting takeover by other groups or countries (which they meant communists).
What is the Berlin crisis
Germany split into 4 zones. Berlin was inside the Soviet Union of Germany. Stalin blocked all road, rail and canal supply lines in west Berlin in an attempt to make the whole of Berlin dependant on the Soviet Union. Supplies were taken to west Berlin through aircraft, Stalin knew firing on planes would start a war.
Why was HUAC set up in 1938
To monitor extremist groups suspected of un-American activities.
What was the Hollywood Ten
There was a concern that communists would try and use the film industry to spread propaganda. From October 1947 Huac called 41 writers, producers and directors for questioning about communism in Hollywood. They named 19 people as communists and when these people appeared before HUAC, ten refused to answer any questions and used their first amendment. All ten were jailed.
The impact of the Hollywood ten
Increased anti-communism hysteria.
What was the Hiss case
Alger Hiss, an important adviser to President Roosevelt in ww2. In the 1948 HUAC hearing, Hiss was named as a member of the communist group. HUAC called him for questioning, but Hiss denied being a member of the communist. Richard Nixon claimed that Hiss had been leaking information to the Soviet Union. Hiss was sentenced to 5 years in prison for lying in court.
Impact of the Hiss Case
Communist spies were everywhere, even in the highest offices of the land.
What was the Rosenburg case
In 1950, Klaus Fuchs was arrested in Britain for passing on information to the Soviets on how to develop an atomic bomb. Fuchs confessed and named other spies including Davide green glass, who named his sister and brother in law, Ethel and Julius Rosenberg- Sentenced to death.
What was the McCarran Act
Communists were not allowed US passports
Communists were not allowed certain jobs
Maccarthy
Claimed to have a list of 205 members of the communist’s party who worked in the US state department. LIst reduced to 57. Mccarthy held hearings in public and in private. He used bullying and aggressive questioning of many suspected communists, especially attacking high profile figures to gain more publicity.
Reasons for Mccarthys downfall
Televised hearings that showed bullying techniques. Nobody was ever convicted of spying based work. McCarthy’s accusations became more extreme. The army sent evidence of Mccarghys corruption to news reporters.
Methods to prevent black people from voting
Making people pass literacy tests.
Making people pay a poll tax that they couldn’t afford
Using violence or threatening people who tried to vote.
What was Brown Vs Topeka
The parents of Linda Brown applied for her to attend the summer elementary school in the town of Topeka. This was much closer to her house than the school she attended. The application was rejected on the grounds of race. Linda’s parents with the support of the NAACP took their case to the local court. It was combined with four other similar cases. Decided that school segregation was unconstitutional.
What was the result of Plessy vs Ferguson
Separate but equal facilities were constitutional.
What was the death of Emmett Till
Till was from Chicago, On 24 August, Till boasted to a group of teenagers that he had a white girlfriend at home. His companions dared him to go into a Byrants grocery and meat market shop and talk to the white owner’s wife, Carolyn. Till bought some bubble gum and Carolyn Bryant claimed he flirted and touched her. The teenager with Till said that he whistled at her outside the store. Four days later, in the middle of the night6, Till was taken from his great uncle’s house, by Carolyn’s husband Roy and Roys half brother. Thye beat shot him and threw his body into the river, where it was found on 31 August. Photographs of Tills body were published, so thousands of people saw him and many white people, as well as AA, were very shocked. The trial of Bryant and Milam was widely reported across all of America. The two were found not guilty to an all-white all-male jury. Later the two confessed to a magazine.
