T 1:00-2:00 KH 263; W 12:00-2:00, HOB 2 121
“A Conspiracy so Immense…” The McCarthy Era
in
I. What is the “McCarthy Era”?
A. Difficult definition
Period of
governments were
preoccupied with rooting out Communists, Communist sympathizers, and Communist
influence in the
Through
loyal oaths and blacklists, private industry and
organizations also
affected.
Dated approximately from the end of WW II to the mid 1950s.
B. What is in a name?
Named after most famous anti-Communist, Joseph McCarthy
Other
labels as well—“second Red scare,” “domestic Cold
War,” “anti-Communist hysteria”
“McCarthyism” has entered our language as
a pejorative
Hunt for
Communists started before McCarthy, continued after
his fall.
Democrats as well as Republicans responsible.
C. Controversial period
Disagreements
about
when it
started,
why it
happened,
what to call
it,
how many
people harmed,
what the long
term effects were.
Lingering
aftershocks
Example—Elia
Kazan. Named names before
HUAC in 1952. When given a life-time
achievement award at the Oscars in 1999, many members of the audience refused
to applaud.
D. You as historian
Research
paper on some aspect of this era, a person who was singled out as un-American,
a politician who believed the
II. American Communist
Party
A. Origins
Began
with the Russian Revolution
Anti-Communist
government attack after WW I—“Red Scare”
Tied
to the
B. The Hey Day—the
Great Depression
Biggest
period of influence—some 80,000 members
CP
addressing problems of unemployment, housing,
unionization, agricultural
work, race equity
Drew
from factory workers, sharecroppers, intellectuals
Influential
through allied groups, “front organizations”
C.
War and post-war years
Membership in CP dropping in late
1930s
Growing
knowledge of Stalinist terror
Brief
alliance between
Picked up in WW II
Dropping
again as
Soviet leadership’s denunciation of
Stalin
D.
Soviet influence?
The CP’s official ties to
fifth column within
the nation, acting as spies?
How close were the
ties?
Schrecker’s
argument—addressed local problems.
Others claim it closely followed
III. The Legacy of the
New Deal
A.
New Deal controversial in
1950s
Programs
such as Social Security, national utilities projects, federal arts projects
deemed “socialist,” “communist”
B.
During 1930s, efforts by
opponents to show influence of Communists within
C.
HUAC, the government agency
most associated with McCarthyism, founded in 1938
Dominated
by conservative Republicans and Southern
Democrats
who opposed the New Deal.
Ended
some New Deal programs, including the Federal
Theatre
Project and the Federal Writers’ Project.
D.
Partisan politics entered
search for Communists
IV. The Cold War Begins
A.
Conflicting systems
Confrontation
between US and
end of WW II until 1991
Pitted
capitalism against Communism
Both
sides portrayed battle as between good and evil
US—free choice vs
thought control
B. Soviet
expansion in
US and
Conflicts over Soviet
strategies in
Winston Churchill’s “Iron
Curtain Speech” of 1946.
US changes policies to oppose
further expansion—Truman
Doctrine, 1947.
C. Communist advances
1949—Soviet
atomic bomb
1949—Chinese
Communists come to power
1950—Korean
war begins
D.
American crisis of belief
Victorious
in WW II
Superior
system
Why
losing ground after war?
Reasons
must lie within US itself
Hunt
for the enemies within
E. Weapons in the hunt for Communists
Truman’s
Loyalty Review Board
House Committee on Un-American
Activities (HUAC)
Senate Internal Security Subcommittee
State Level HUAC
committees (13 in all)
Unofficial blacklists
V. HUAC in the Cold War
A.
HUAC a legally constituted
committee of the House of
Representatives
Task to call
witnesses, receive testimony, use information to
draft laws
Not an official court of law; no rules of
evidence
Could cite reluctant witnesses for
contempt
Needed support from other agencies to
punish witnesses
B. Scope of
HUAC investigations
Government bureaucracy—Alger Hiss.
Entertainment—The
Labor unions—The CIO
Universities—Owen Lattimore
Defense industry—Robert Oppenheimer
Race relations—Paul Robeson
Communist fronts—Arthur Miller
C. Tactics
Admit guilt and give names
Information already known
Ritualistic element to hearings
Exclude the recalcitrant;
reintegrate the penitent
D. A
Hostile Witness—Ring Lardner Jr.
Loyalty of
Called a number of writers,
directors, actors
Lardner one of the ten not
cooperating
Member of CP since 1930s; helped to
organize Screen
Actors’ Guild
No access to secret information
Questioning HUAC right to examine his beliefs
Sent to prison for a year; blacklisted.
E. A
Friendly Witness—Elia Kazan
Joined the CP in the 1930s; mainly active
in cultural
groups in NY
Important Broadway director; moving into
film
Testified
twice--the first time admitting his own membership
The second time naming names
Denouncing the undemocratic
tactics of the CP
Reaffirming his loyalty as a
citizen
VI. Law and Loyalty
A.
Fear in the postwar world
War
did not end in real victory
Spies
existed within the government
Soviet
challenge grew rapidly
B.
Did fear undermine law?
Being
a Communist never illegal in the
Accused
not allowed normal legal protections
Punished
for actions long in the past
Extralegal methods used to rob people of their livelihoods
C.
Climate of fear caused
people to turn to extraordinary
methods to regulate
belief.
“Normally
the actions and deeds of a man were all that
society felt comfortable in judging. The secret intent of an
action was left to the ministers, priests, and rabbis to
deal
with. When
diabolism arises, however, actions are the least
important manifest of the true nature of a man” (Miller, 35)