What was the 'Red Scare' during the Cold War?

There were two distinct Red Scares that occurred in America during the 20th century.

The first took place in the early 1920s, following the 1917 Russian Revolution.

The Second Red Scare, which this article focuses on, took place during the late 1940s and 1950s.

This second one began when the Soviet Union developed nuclear weapons after their effectiveness was demonstrated when America dropped two atomic bombs on Japan at the end of WWII.

The thought that Soviet Russia now had the same superweapons as America created a new level of fear in the United States.

Also, what magnified this concern was the apparent sudden fall of China to a new communist government under Mao Zedong in 1949.

As such, many Americans were now convinced that communists were trying to take over the world.

In particular, it was feared that communists inside the USA would overthrow their own government.

President Truman had tried to preempt these concerns when he passed the Executive Order 9835 in 1947.

This order set up a federal loyalty program, which led to the establishment of 'loyalty boards' to investigate government employees.

Anyone who was found to be a communist sympathizer could be immediately fired from their job.

But this was not the first attempt at hunting out communists in the American government.

A congressional committee known as the 'House Un-American Activities Committee' had been created in 1938.

This committee had been originally formed to investigate Nazi activity in America, but it soon turned its attention to communism.

The House Un-American Activities Committee exercised its power by holding hearings in which people were called to testify about their communist beliefs.

Those who refused to cooperate with the committee were often blacklisted from working in Hollywood or other industries.

As a result, there was a significant impact on Hollywood, where a number of well-known actors and directors were forced to leave the country.

In a similar way, the Red Scare severely impacted American academia, with numerous educators and professors losing their jobs due to suspected communist affiliations. 

Then, in 1950, the US Congress passed the McCarran Internal Security Act, which required any communist organizations to register with the government.

Any that did this essentially painted a target on their own backs. They became the focus of concerns, particularly by the newly established Subversive Activities Control Board of the US government.

However, the peak of the Second Red Scare was triggered by the rise of Senator Joseph McCarthy, who led a crusade against communism in the early 1950s.

McCarthy had risen to prominence as a result of a speech he gave in Wheeling, West Virginia, on February 9, 1950, where he claimed to have a list of communists working in the State Department.

This obviously caught the public attention, and he was able to hold public hearings from 1950 to 1954 in order to investigate possible communist activity in the United States government.

During them, McCarthy used fear and intimidation to force people to confess their communist beliefs.

These hearings resulted in a number of people being blacklisted or fired from their jobs. 

Although, even at the time, McCarthy was a controversial and divisive figure.

Many people accused him of using the hearings to accuse many innocent people, ruining their lives and careers.

Consequently, the hearings helped to fuel the growing paranoia of the time.

Perhaps the most troubling trial that took place during the Second Red Scare was the trial of the Rosenbergs.

The Rosenbergs were a married couple who were convicted of spying for the Soviet Union.

After a short trial, they were both found guilty and were quickly sentenced to death in 1953.

They became the only civilians to be executed for espionage during the Cold War era.

However, their trial was a highly controversial one, as many people in the American public believe that they were innocent.

Nevertheless, their execution demonstrated just how far the government was willing to go in order to root out communism.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was the most important government agency that was responsible for investigating possible communist activity.

As a spy organization, it was relied upon to find crucial evidence that was used to convict people in the hearings and legal trials.

To do this, FBI agents used a range of surveillance techniques, including wiretapping and infiltration, to gather information on suspected communists.

Also, they used these techniques to try to silence any of those who spoke out against the US government.

The FBI kept files on hundreds of thousands of Americans. These were used to justify blacklisting people from jobs and seeking other positions in public office.

The practice of file keeping of suspected communists continued until the 1970s when it was finally stopped.

However, the head of the FBI, a man called J. Edgar Hoover, was frequently accused of using the agency to persecute innocent people.

In particular, it was claimed that he used his power to silence his own political opponents.

As a result, the FBI's activities during the Red Scare tarnished the agency's reputation.

The Red Scare saw everyday people become the target of high-level government accusations.

As a result, many were afraid to express their opinions in public for fear of being accused of being a communist.

Understandably, this led to a climate of self-censorship and a need to conform with the atmosphere of the time.

The Red Scare also had a significant impact on the economy. The government spent billions of dollars on anti-communist programs.

This led to an increase in taxes. In addition, the paranoia of the time caused many companies to stop doing business with America, which hurt the economy even further.

The Second Red Scare began to subside by the end of the 1950s, especially after the censure of Senator Joseph McCarthy in 1954.

The 1960s saw a shift in focus to other issues, such as the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War.

Although the influence of the Red Scare had already started to wane, its impact on American culture, politics, and economy were felt for decades afterwards.