McCarthyism and the Red Scare

McCarthyism and the Red Scare book cover — UNCOVERING THE PAST ANALYZING PRIMARY SOURCES MCCARTHYISM AND THE RED SCARE HEATHER C HUDAK Crabtree Publishing Company www crabtreebooks com

McCarthyism and the Red Scare — page 1 — INTRODUCTION THE PAST COMES ALIVE No one man can terrorize a whole nation unless we are all his accomplices TV journalist Edward R Murrow on the CBS show See It Now on March 7 1954 In the late 1940s and 1950s many Americans feared the Soviet Union wanted to take over the world and spread its communist ideals In a communist society there is no private ownership The state or government owns and controls almost all business and property That was very different from the democratic and capitalist society of the United States which emphasized personal freedom and private owership of property and business During this time of heightened fear Joseph McCarthy a Republican senator from Wisconsin spent five years investigating the U S government in search of anyone who had communist sympathies and loyalties He accused hundreds of people of communist subversion and disloyalty This led to a widespread belief that Soviet spies had infiltrated the U S government and society McCarthy’s determination to seek out subversives brought him into prominence and power This period of time is known as the Second Red Scare The extreme approach McCarthy used to interrogate people became known as McCarthyism The Red Scare and McCarthyism influenced people and politics in a way that continues to shape society today To understand these events we study history History is everything that happened in the past including only yesterday Historians look for information clues and evidence from events They analyze and interpret this material to help explain the cause and effects of things Information about the past is found in many sources including libraries archives newspapers museums and private collections 4 UNCOVERING THE PAST The economy of the United States and Canada boomed after World War II 1939 1945 Many people were able to buy houses and cars But the threat of war with the U S S R hung overhead like a nuclear cloud There was a real fear that communism would spread and change our way of life

McCarthyism and the Red Scare — page 2 — DEFINITIONS Union of Soviet Socialist Republics U S S R A communist country in Northern Asia and Eastern Europe that was made up of Russia and 14 other countries Soviet A term used to describe anything related to the U S S R Communism An economic and political system in which all property is owned by its members and is used for the good of all people Capitalism An economic and political system in which trade and industry are privately owned At the height of the Cold War of the 1950s and 1960s many Americans feared a physical war with the Soviets that would result in the use of nuclear weapons such as this atomic bomb explosion MCCARTHYISM AND THE RED SCARE 5

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