LibGuides: G12: The Cold War and the Americas: McCarthyism

What was McCarthyism?

McCarthyism and the Red Scare
In the early 1950s, American leaders repeatedly told the public that they should be fearful of subversive Communist influence in their lives.
McCarthyism/The Red Scare
From the Eisenhower Archives
McCarthyism, Political Repression and the Fear of Communism
JSTOR article
CSPAN: Mccarthyism and the Red Scare
Selection of video clips, including both archival footage and interviews.
House Un-American Activities Committee
Anti-Communism in the 1950s
Revelations that spies in the US atomic program had passed secrets to the Soviet Union set off a nationwide panic that communist spies might be infiltrating many American institutions.
The Speech that Launched the Red Scare
Discover how a speech delivered by Sen. Joseph McCarthy in 1950 at a Women’s Republican Club in Wheeling, West Virginia, sparked anti-communist hysteria nationwide and ushered in the era of “McCarthyism”

Impact on Domestic Issues

Cold War Home Front: Mccarthyism
Government employees, the entertainment industry, educators, and union activists were the primary targets of McCarthyism.
Domestic Politics, 1945-68
In 1947 President Truman set up a federal loyalty program. By December 1952, 6.6 million people had been checked for security -- 490 were dismissed as ineligible for government employment on loyalty grounds.
Eisenhower and McCarthy
In the end, President Eisenhower had no choice but to fight back against Senator Joseph McCarthy—and he did
Eisenhower:Domestic Affairs
the Eisenhower years were not simple or carefree, and the President faced important and controversial issues in domestic affairs.
Subversives: Stories from the Red Scare
from the Zinn Project: students meet 27 different targets of government harassment and repression to analyze why disparate individuals might have become targets of the same campaign,

FBI and the Hollywood 10

Impact on Foreign Policy

The State Dept Under the Red Scare
As Senator McCarthy reigned over the Second Red Scare, the Eisenhower administration consolidated the United States’ foreign policy of containment against communism abroad.
McCarthyism in the Cold War

From the Databases

Response to Communist Threat or Political Witch Hunt?
s Senator Joseph McCarthy's effort to root out communists from government and entertainment institutions a legitimate response to a communist threat? Or is his campaign a baseless political witch hunt?
Rosenberg Executions: Atomic Spies or Communist Hysteria?
Should they have been convicted?

Graphic History

Senator Joseph McCarthy (right) interviewing Chief Army Counsel Joseph Welch (left) during the Army-McCarthy hearings, 1954.

Red Scare in the Headlines

On Feb 9, 1950, Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy delivered a speech at the McLure Hotel in Wheeling, West Virginia during which he claimed to hold a list of known communists (“enemies from within”) in the U.S. State Department.

Movie Poster

a 1949 anti-communist film noir. An ex-GI named Bill Jones becomes involved with the Communist Party in the US. While in training, Jones falls in love with one of his instructors. At first true followers of communis, they realize their mistake when they witness party leaders murder a member who questions the party's principles. When they try to leave the party, the two are marked for murder and hunted by the party's assassins.

HUAC Protest for Trumbo

Trumbo, a popular Hollywood screenwriter, was served a subpoena to appear before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) on September 18, 1947; he faced the committee in October 1947.

"An Uncomfortable Situation"

Hungerford, Cy. Artist. December 3, 1953. Library of Congress.

"I have here in my hand..."

Editorial cartoon showing Sen. Joseph McCarthy holding a "doctored photo" and a "faked letter," both burning, his fingers singed, which he claims are FBI documents during the Army-McCarthy hearings.

G12: The Cold War and the Americas: McCarthyism