McCarthyism Flashcards
(43 cards)
What was allowed under the 1947 Federal Employee Loyalty Program?
Government employees were subjected to security checks - their loyalty was questioned if they belonged to organisations with liberal ideas on race, disarmament or workers’ rights as well as the communist party. People were forced out of their jobs.
Who was Alger Hiss and what was he accused of?
He was a former senior member of the US State Department and he was accused of spying and passing secrets to the USSR.
What happened to Alger Hiss?
He was imprisoned for lying in court in 1950 for five years.
What was the Red Scare?
Concerns about communism had started to cause a climate of fear and panic in the USA. It was a fear that communists were going to take over the USA.
What does HUAC stand for?
The House of Un-American Activities Committee.
What did HUAC do?
It was set up to investigate subversive (trying to destroy or damage something - especially and established political system) activities and during the 1940s and 1950s it became focused on finding communists in the USA.
Who did HUAC begin questioning in 1947?
The film industry.
What was the Hollywood Ten?
A group of directors and writers who refused to answer the questions posed by HUAC as they defended themselves with the first amendment (freedom to believe what they wanted), as a result, they were blacklisted (meaning they would not be offered work in the industry again) and jailed. Some then went to Europe to try and find work.
Where else did blacklisting occur?
In schools, universities and broadcasting.
What does FBI stand for?
Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Who was the director of the FBI?
J Edgar Hoover.
What did the director of the FBI do?
He kept thousands of secret dossiers on left-wing activists and thinkers, including six Nobel prize-winning authors.
What did the FBI do?
It conducted loyalty probes of millions of government employees.
What was McCarthyism?
The period of time when senator McCarthy took advantage of people being so afraid of communism and launched a witch-hunt.
What did McCarthy’s speech in 1950 include?
He waved a list of 205 people in the State Department who he believed to be communist. He claimed that some of them were giving information to the USSR thus putting them at risk.
Were McCarthy’s accusations ever proved?
No, however newspapers published his allegations and many people believed him.
How did McCarthy destroy the careers of thousands of people?
He investigated possible communists and during senate meetings he intimidated witnesses and pressured people to accuse others.
What happened to the Rosenbergs?
In 1951, two members of the US Communist Party were convicted of passing atomic secrets to the Russians. They were executed in 1953.
What made McCarthy’s activities possible?
The existing climate of fear - China had gone communist and the Russians had the bomb.
Who did McCarthy accuse in 1953?
The army of covering up communist infiltration.
What turned pubic opinion against McCarthy?
His bullying of witnesses in televised Army-McCarthy hearings in 1954.
What happened to McCarthy?
In December 1954, his senate colleagues finally voted to censure him.
What did the Communist Control Act in 1954 allow for?
Dismissal from the civil service for political beliefs.
What was the cold war?
A period of intense conflict between the USA and the USSR. There was no direct military fighting - it was more a confrontation based on differences in ideology, battle for resources and struggles for influence in the third world.
