I. SECOND RED SCARE
- Starts after the ww2
- House un-American activities committee o Claimed people working in government were socialists and more committed to the soviets o Causes Truman to set up a loyalty review board to make sure people are loyal to the government
Becomes a responsibility of managers and supervisors to make sure people are reliable o The concern is people are spies in the government
Many people were dismissed from job
People with alcohol problems, homosexuals, and people in debt were all considered security risks
The fact that there were spies made this worse
- Alger Hiss o Very rich and powerful man in Washington
Had worked for several federal agencies o Accused of being a soviet spy by Whittaker Chambers
Whitaker was the Times editor
Whittaker was a soviet spy, and he said Hiss passed documents to him years earlier o Hiss sues Chambers for libel o Whitaker produces documents that Hiss had passed to Whitaker
Hiss is put on trial
Hiss is convicted of perjury- lying about being a spy
Not espionage
- Julius and Ethel Rosenberg o Married couple passing information about the atomic bomb to Russia
Not overwhelming evidence, but they are convicted and sentenced to execution o After the execution, their son tries to prove his families innocence
We know now they were completely guilty
- These cases leave everyone to worry about spies
- Senator Joseph McCarthy o Uses hysteria to his advantage o Says the federal government is full of spies o Constantly accuses people of being spies
Ruins careers
Anyone expected of being a communist of communist sympathizer is questioned
- McCarthy badgers people on the stand and is very pushy o Goes After a lot of celebrities o If you didn’t testify you are blacklisted
- All the prosecutions are televised o The way to get out of being accused a spy was to point the finger at other people
- McCarthyism o Accuses almost everyone of being a spy
There are spies in the government, but McCarthy finds 0 o Starts to bring army people in, and people realize he’s being ridiculous o Its also very hard on diplomats
- Gets very out of hand
- Leaves Americans with the fear there are communists everywhere, and even you can be accused if your not a communist
II. CHARACTERISTICS OF POST WAR LIBERALISM
- In the mid 20th century, all people consider themselves liberal o Influences policies for 20 years o Nature of U.S. is exceptional
Belief the U.S. is the best on earth
- Capitalism o No reason for the U.S. to get better
- Cold War and Containment o Stop the spread of communism, because capitalism is the solution to the worlds problems o All people are very focused on winning the cold war
- Government’s could and should regulate the economy o Governments should command economy and foster growth o Hope to continue prosperity in the U.S.
- Government should provide a basic standard of living for all Americans o Continue new deal policies, especially for middle class o No drastic dismantling of new deal after ww2
Even ones FDR considered temporary
- War on poverty o Believed government could end poverty in U.S. all together and they should
Experts should be hired to fix these problems
Large debate on this
- Civil rights o Starts to be a consensus after ww2 that something has to be done about mistreatment of African Americans o 1950’s starts the movement of this
- This generation has hope that government can make everyone’s lives better o Wanted government to do more o Legacy of the progressives
III. AFFLUENCE
- We see a lot of this confidence because of the material abundance and prosperity of America o People had lived through the great depression, and saw the U.S. jump to the strongest country in the world in 20 years
- There is a slight recession after the war, but the economy picks up
- G.I. Bill o Americans start to talk about taking care of