The Cold War in the United States

**aqalieh95** Sun Feb 20, 2011 7:06 pm

The Cold War in the United States

Truman’s Loyalty Program and HUAC
- Truman wanted communism to be stopped at all costs
- Both parties used the loyalty issue to gain control
- Truman used the FBI to investigate people, were automatically convicted
- Congress made House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)
- Started investigating Hollywood figures for having left-wing inclinations that corrupted the public
The Hollywood Ten
- In 1947, HUAC called on famous actors to testify, and couldn’t defend themselves
- 10 of them used the First Amendment to defend themselves
- They all went to jail for contempt of Congress
- Hollywood began a “blacklist” for people who were communist
Spy Cases Inflame the Nation
- Alger Hiss accused of being a communist, and then later as a Soviet spy
- Hiss was convicted because he couldn’t defend himself
- Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were convicted for passing atomic secrets to Soviets, and were executed in the electric chair
The McCarthy Era
- Joseph McCarthy used communism to gain power
- Said he had a list of 205 known communists in the State Department, and never had any such list
- Accused other government officials, like Marshall for losing China, and said that he was in a huge conspiracy
- Gained support by giving newspaper stories and used fear
- Kept attacking people to gain power, and people were OK with that
- Accused Fred Fisher of being a communist, everybody was convinced McCarthy was stretching the truth
- He created the impact of fear and suspicion, and nobody could defend themselves anymore until later
- Lost of people lost their lives and careers because of this madnesss