Transcript Espionage Trials

Espionage Trials and Cultural
Shifts
• In the 1950’s, fear of nuclear war and fear of
communist agents was combined in a pair of
key espionage trials
– In 1948, Alger Hiss was accused of spying for the
Soviet Union
• Hiss was a former State Department official
• Hiss was convicted of perjury
– In 1950, Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were accused
of giving the Soviet Union information about the
atomic bomb during WWII
• This was believed to have led to the Soviet Union
developing an atomic bomb earlier than expected
• They were convicted of espionage, sentenced to death,
and executed in 1953
The Rosenbergs, Step 1
Guiding Question: Should the Rosenbergs have
been convicted of espionage?
• Analyze both sources in relation to the guiding
question
The Rosenbergs, Step 2
• Use the handout to write a dialogue on the
Rosenbergs
– The Pro side should be arguing that they should
have been convicted
– The Con side should be arguing that they should
not have been convicted
– Each box should both contain an argument for
that side and address the other sides previous
argument
How might these three quotes relate
to each other?
The Pledge of Allegiance adopted by
Congress in 1954
I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the
United States of America, and to the
Republic for which it stands, one Nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all
The Pledge of Allegiance, as written in
the 1920’s and adopted by Congress in
1942
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America, and to the
Republic for which it stands, one Nation
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all
Quote from Karm Marx, founder of communism
in periods when the political state as such is born violently out
of civil society, when political liberation is the form in which
men strive to achieve their liberation, the state can and must go
as far as the abolition of religion, the destruction of religion.