Transcript The Cold War and American Society

The Cold War and American
Society
CHAPTER 21 – 3
THE COLD WAR HEIGHTENED AMERICANS'
FEARS OF COMMUNIST INFILTRATION AND
ATOMIC ATTACK.
When did the Red Scare Begin?
 September 1945.
 Clerk named Igor Gouzenko carried documents
revealing a massive effort by the Soviet Union to
infiltrate organizations and government agencies in
Canada and the United States.

Specifically they wanted information about the atomic bomb.
KGB intelligence
Subversion
 Had spies infiltrated the American government?
Loyalty
 Federal employees were screened.
 That didn’t calm people down!
 People might be suspect for:
 Reading certain books.
 Belonging to various groups.
 Traveling oversees.
 Seeing certain foreign films.
 No actual evidence against them was uncovered.
HUAC (HOUSE UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES
COMMITTEE
 J. Edgar Hoover
Wanted to investigate Communist
and Fascist activities in the U.S.
Public hearings on Communist
subversion.
Wiretapped thousands of
telephones.
FBI Headquarters
Alger Hiss
 In August 1948 Whittaker Chambers appeared before the
House of Un-American Activities Committee and during
his testimony claimed that Hiss had been spying for the
Soviet Union. In a federal grand jury investigation of the
case, Hiss denied Chambers's accusations. However, as a
result of this investigation, Hiss was charged with
perjury. His first trial in 1949 ended in a hung jury but
the following year, a second jury found Hiss guilty and
sentenced him to five years imprisonment.
Hiss was released from prison in 1954. He spent the rest
of his life trying to clear his name
The Rosenbergs
We are
innocent!
Did they lead a Soviet spy ring?
Sold secrets of the atomic
Condemned to death for espionage.
bomb?
Members of the Communist
in N.Y.
Party
Project Venona
 Solid evidence of Soviet espionage did exist, but
many didn’t know it at the time.
 1946 Cryptographers cracked the Soviet spy code.

Messages between the Soviet Union and Moscow.
 Government chose not to make the messages public.
 1995 the government revealed its existence.

Evidence that the Rosenbergs were guilty.
The Red Scare Spreads
 State and local governments began their own efforts
to find Communists.

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
Universities
Businesses
Unions
Churches
 Loyalty Oaths