McCarthyism Notes - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

McCarthyism NotesSlide2

The time period from 1946 to 1955, during which Senator Joseph McCarthy led a movement to find and prosecute suspected communists

Also known as the

Red Scare time periodMcCarthyism came to mean false charges of disloyalty.

McCarthyism Slide3

Many people suffered loss of employment and/or destruction of their careers; some even suffered imprisonment

The number imprisoned is in the hundreds

Victims of McCarthyismSlide4

Ten or twelve thousand lost their jobs.

Some of those who were imprisoned or lost their jobs did in fact have some connection with the Communist Party. But for most, both the potential harm to the nation and the nature of their communist affiliation were tenuous/weak.

Victims of McCarthyismSlide5

At the end of World War II, the United States and the USSR emerged as the world’s major powers. They also became involved in the

Cold War

, a state of hostility (short of direct military conflict) between the two nations.

Many Americans feared not only Communism around the world but also disloyalty at home. Suspicion about Communist infiltration of the government

The Cold War in AmericaSlide6

A lot of Americans thought the Soviets got the atomic bomb by using spies. It was charged that secret agents, working under cover, had stolen our secrets and given them to the Enemy.

Even worse, these spies supposedly were hardly ever Russians themselves, but often American citizens, the kind of people you see every day on the street and hardly even notice.

A Communist could be anybody. It sort of makes a Communist sound like the bogey-man, doesn’t it? To many people in 1953, a Communist was just as scary as the bogey-man, and a lot more real.

The Cold War in AmericaSlide7

Congress began to investigate suspicions of disloyalty. The

House Un-American Activities Committee

(HUAC) sought to expose Communist influence in American life. McCarthy worked closely with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and his close friend, J. Edgar Hoover. The FBI supplied McCarthy with the information that he needed to keep his committee hearings effective.

(HUAC)Slide8

Beginning in the late 1940s, the committee called witnesses and investigated the entertainment industry.

Prominent film directors and screenwriters who refused to cooperate were imprisoned on contempt charges.

As a result of the HUAC investigations, the entertainment industry blacklisted, or refused to hire, artists and writers suspected of being Communists.

(HUAC)Slide9

Arthur Miller and HUAC

Arthur Miller, author of

The Crucible

, a play about the Salem witch trials, but thinly disguised as a play about the

Red Hunt

, had already been named as a suspected communist by another suspect at the hearings. Slide10

Arthur Miller and HUAC

And due to the play he was writing,

A View from the

Bridge-the story that exposed corruption among the organized labor on Brooklyn's docks…Miller

(now married to Marilyn Monroe) applied for a new passport. The HUAC used this opportunity to subpoena him to appear before the committee. Slide11

Helen Keller,Slide12

A 

crucible

 is a melting pot used for extremely hot chemical reactions — the crucible needs to be melt-proof. Literally, a 

crucible

 is a vessel used for very hot processes, like fusing metals.

Another 

meaning of the word

is a very significant and difficult trial or test.

a place or situation in which concentrated forces interact to cause or influence change or development

What does “crucible” mean?