Red Scare Espionage And The Cold War

The Red Scare was a significant event in The Cold War. It was the fear of the spread of communism and America didn’t want that to happen so they issued organizations and laws to try and prevent the spread of communism (Containment Policy).

Since the late 1940s, American cinema has been obsessed with the idea of the atomic bomb and what it stands for; whether that be destruction or absolute power depends on the film. This symbolism would then come to define the 1950s, and later on American cinema as well. This symbolism then must be addressed from the lenses of, both, history and socio-political commentary. Then the question must be posed why specifically these two lenses? The answer to this question, then, lies in the films of the 50s, and beyond. Whether this answer lies in the apocalyptic imagination present in the films or the politics of the time, McCarthyism would influence American culture far beyond the 50s, depends on the historian who is asked. The answer, then,

The Red Scare, also known as, McCarthyism started in the early 1950’s. It got the name McCarthyism from Senator Joseph Raymond McCarthy. McCarthy started The Red Scare. It was very similar to a witch hunt but, it wasn’t witches they were hunting for. They were searching for communist. The Red Scare was a horrible and cruel period during the early 1900’s.

During the Cold War, the United States was deeply enthralled in fears of a Communist takeover. The Cold War, a nuclear war between the Soviet Union and the United States, lasted from 1945 to 1990. As the Cold War progressed spies and individuals of the communist party were uncovered and put on trial. Joseph McCarthy, a Wisconsin senator, took advantage of the United States fear of communists by making up false evidence and accusations against innocent people. Americans feared that there were roots of Communism throughout communities in the United States, and more specifically, in the government. In February of 1950, McCarthy made a radical statement announcing he possessed a list of 205 government officials that were involved in the communist party. This sparked the beginning of the McCarthy era. Because this list was made up, McCarthy had to keep his lie going to maintain spotlight attention from the media and its millions of viewers. His false accusations led to tension and outbreak among numerous communities in the United States. McCarthy generated the Red Scare and the Hollywood Blacklist, these two events ruined thousands of innocent peoples lives. Joseph McCarthy was driven by the need for power and, briefly, accomplished his goal through the use of fear and accusatory tactics.

The Red Scare is referred to as America’s fear of communism. Taking a second to look back on History, American suspicion of communism first began in the 1920’s during World War One. Thirty years later, the paranoia over communism was stirred up by the influences of war against the Soviet Union, Un-American Activities committee and McCarthyism. This changed America’s perception of society and politics.

about the atomic bomb to Russia. On August 11,1950 his wife Ethel Rosenberg was arrested on the charge of aiding her husband in spy activities.(Moss, 225) On Friday, June 19, 1953 Ethel and Julius were electrocuted in New York State's Sing Sing Prison. Their sons, Michael who was ten and Robert who was six were sent to foster homes and later were adopted by Anne and Abel Meeropol in 1957.(Moss, 224) How did the FBI find out that the Rosenbergs were spying and how did the investigation begin?

Over the course of this investigation I will look into the ‘Red Hunts’, the communist paranoia and at times unwarranted persecution that occurred in American and other Western allied countries during the Cold War, from the early 1950’s to the late 1960’s. I will investigate the way in which the escalation of the Cold War led to communist paranoia in Western countries and how this ‘Red Scare’ was spread through propaganda and magnified by the intense fear of military and nuclear conflict during the Cold War. The red hunts must be viewed in context - as a symptom of communist paranoia that influenced most of the western world during the Cold War. I will then examine the many ways in which the red hunts can be illustrated - movements such as McCarthyism, blacklisting, the House Un-American Activities Committee, the trial of the ‘Hollywood Ten’ and the communist witch hunts which occurred as a symptom of this communist paranoia in America. I will look at the effects of these events on groups and individuals in American society, and finally the carry on effect of this communist paranoia into New Zealand and the way in which this influenced our society, as well as the lasting impact this has on our society now.

Fear was a large part of this as a fear of world domination by communists or nuclear holocaust, especially because the Soviet Union exploded its first A-Bomb in 1949 and China became communist.

From after World War II, to the Cold War, to the creation of the atomic bomb, America’s fear grew stronger. Espionage played an important role in the paranoia of the country. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed for conspiracy in committing espionage because of the unwarranted paranoia of a nuclear attack by the Russians and the unjustified fear of the Soviet Union in the 1950s.

Modern interest in the Red Scare and the long standing efforts to balance liberty and safety in American history has brought some attention back to the topic of the Palmer Raids. The infamous nature of American anti-communist efforts may have died out but the language and ideology persists in many ways, particularly in the post 9/11 and Patriot Act era. Historians have long evaluated the Red Scare and the influence of the Palmer Raids on America’s understanding of ideological regulation. While some historians look at the influence of certain personalities like J. Edgar Hoover and A. Mitchell Palmer, others chose to write about the more abstract nature of civil rights and the controlling influence of the government. They also draw direct parallels

When the Cold War occurred between the Soviet Union and the United States it was intensifying. There was fear that there would be a communist influence toward the United States.This is later to be known as the second Red Scare which occurred in the late 1940s to the mid 1950s. The first Red Scare occurred in the early 20th century, when there was a period of suspicion that the revolution in Russia would overthrow the United States government. Leading to the fear of communist revolution in the United States. During the second Red Scare in the late 1940s, Joseph McCarthy was a senator of Wisconsin ,during that time. In half of his time in office ,he tried to 1 expose communists and other people who were risks to the United States, this

The Red Scare of 1920 was that a lot of people thought that communism was going to spread to other countries. The Red Scare of 1920 was caused by many different things, but some of the major things that caused it were the assassination of the US president McKinley in 1901, many bombings such as the Wall Street bombing, and the communists overthrew the Russian Royal Family when the Russian revolution occurred which made everyone think that it was going to spread. Almost everyone in the US thought that the communists were going to take over since there were about 150,000 anarchists in the US alone.

The United State’s Capitalistic and consumer driven way of life sat in contrast to the Soviet Union’s Communist and government centred economy. So much so, that the fear of Communists living in America began a panic known as the second Red Scare. Americans attempted to weed out Communists, with programs like the loyalty program which required government workers to state if they have ever been a communist; as well as the Congress of Industrial Organization (CIO). “...[The] (CIO) and United Auto Workers froze Communists out of leadership positions...” (Goldfield 805), along with this there were numerous trails and people assured of being a Communist. McCarthyism was another main reason the American public began exiling those assured of Communists; McCarthyism created a fear of these people, which allowed those accused to be black balled in their professions. One such example where the Hollywood Ten, which was a group of movie directors accused of being too soft on Communism.

Ethel’s brother, David Greenglass was working in New Mexico on an atomic bomb. Because the Rosenbergs were communists, and their relationship with Greenglass, they were accused of passing information regarding the bomb to the Soviet Union, when they really did nothing wrong. Despite their desperate pleas of innocence, “President Dwight D. Eisenhower twice rejected pleas for clemency. The Rosenbergs were executed on June 19, 1953” (Reeves). The president's allegiance is a symbol because it represents American ideas. To Eisenhower and the House of Un-American Activities Committee, communism was a threat to what the government already was. Communists were thought to support Russia, and they could not have those ideas spread around America. Eisenhower cared more about what America stood for rather than his own innocent citizens. The House of Un-American Activities Committee and Eisenhower’s loyalty to what they wanted the image and ideas of America to be was greater than their own citizens, making the decision to execute the Rosenbergs and easy one. The Rosenbergs did not do anything wrong, but in Eisenhower’s mind, just like Bill Hutchinson’s mind in “The Lottery”, they dismissed what the victims were saying and executed them. The innocent victims of both events had ideas that were never shared because people of higher authority refused to listen to them, and they both suffered from them. The higher power stuck with the traditions and

More recently in the history of the United States, was the Red Scare. Many had fears of voicing their opinion which practically destroys all of the progress which had been made by their predecessors in gaining their liberties. Margaret Chase Smith stood up and ignored the fact that she may get labeled as a communist in attempts to eliminate her credibility in politics. She argues that the senate is being hypocritical, “It is strange that we can verbally attack anyone else without restraint and have for protection, and yet we hold ourselves above the same type of criticism here on the Senate floor. Truly the United States Senate is big enough to take self – criticism and self – appraisal” (Smith, 1950, p.523). The senators keep their own liberties