The document summarizes key events that helped trigger the Second Red Scare in the mid-20th century in the United States, including the Soviet Union developing atomic weapons in 1949, the rise of Communist control in China, laws targeting Communist organizations and sympathizers in the US, high-profile spy cases involving the Soviets, President Truman's investigations of government employees for loyalty, Senator Joseph McCarthy's baseless accusations of Communist infiltration and his rise of McCarthyism, the House Un-American Activities Committee investigations of Hollywood, and McCarthy's eventual decline in popularity from 1954 after attacking the US Army.

1. Essential Question:
What helped trigger a second Red Scare
during the middle of the 20th Century?

2. The Growing Fear of Communism
Soviet Atomic Weapons
• In September 1949,
President Truman
announced that the
Soviet Union had
detonated an atomic
bomb.
• This was a shock to the
nation.
• Truman began to
strengthen the nation’s
military against a
possible Soviet nuclear
threat.
“Joe One,” the first Soviet atomic test
29 Aug 1949.

3. The Growing Fear of Communism
Communist China
• Communists in China had
gained nearly full control of
the country.
• The Nationalist
government of Chiang Kai-
shek fled to Taiwan.
• China was in the hands of
the Communist Party under
the leadership of Mao
Zedong.
• Americans worried that
China increased the
Communist threat to the
United States.

4. Fighting Communism at Home
The Smith Act The McCarran Act
• Truman charged • This act required
several leaders of the Communist
Communist Party in organizations to
the United States register with the
under this act. government.
• The act made it a • It established a
crime to call for the special board to
overthrow of the U.S. investigate
government. Communist
involvement.
• The leaders were
convicted and their • Made it illegal to plan
convictions were a totalitarian
upheld in Dennis v. dictatorship.
United States.
• Prevented
Communists from
A 1947 comic warning of the supposed entering the United
dangers of a Communist takeover. States.

5. Fighting Communism at Home
Spy Cases
• Alger Hiss —
convicted of being a
spy for the Soviets.
• Klaus Fuchs —a
Manhattan Project
scientist who gave
atomic bomb
information to the
Soviets.
• Ethel and Julius
Rosenberg —
convicted of passing
secrets to the Soviets
and executed.
Alger Hiss and Whittaker Chambers HUAC
hearing, 3 Aug 1948.

6. President Truman and Loyalty
• Truman investigated
all federal employees
to ensure the loyalty
of government
officials.
• The investigations
turned up little
evidence of
disloyalty.
• This investigation
made clear that
Truman was serious
about fighting
communism. President Harry S Truman

7. Joseph McCarthy and the Second Red Scare
• Joseph McCarthy was a
senator who claimed that
there were 205 known
Communists working for
the U.S. Department of
State.
• Truman dismissed him as
a “ballyhoo artist.”
• A political cartoonist
dubbed McCarthy’s tactic
of spreading fear and
making baseless charges
McCarthyism.
Herbert Block coined the term “McCarthyism”
in this cartoon in the 29 March 1950
Washington Post.

8. Joseph McCarthy and the Second Red Scare
• McCarthy’s claims were
rarely backed up with any
evidence, but this didn’t
stop him from gaining a
reputation as being the
nation’s top Communist
fighter.
• McCarthy succeeded when
he made a special effort to
defeat Maryland senator
Millard Tydings.
• McCarthyism spread
beyond the Senate into
other branches of
government, into
universities, into labor Herbert Block cartoon in the 7 May 1954
Washington Post.
unions, and into private
businesses.

9. Investigating Hollywood
• The House Un-American
Activities Committee
(HUAC) explored the
possible Communist
influence in the American
film industry.
• The Hollywood Ten refused
to answer HUAC questions
about their beliefs or those
of their colleagues.
• Many others in Hollywood
did testify, for if they didn’t
their names were placed on
a blacklist. “Hearing on Communism in Hollywood – Washington,
DC” 23 Oct. 1947.

10. McCarthy’s Fall
• McCarthy continued his
campaign from the Senate
but became increasingly
wild in his accusations.
• In 1952 he began to go after
fellow Republicans.
Longines Chronoscope, CBS-TV. 25 June
1952.

11. McCarthy’s Fall
In 1954 McCarthy attacked
the U.S. Army, claiming
that it was protecting
Communists.
Army-McCarthy Hearings – Washington, DC. 9 June 1954

12. McCarthy’s Fall
• The public came to view
McCarthy’s tactics as
unfair.
• The fear of communism
remained, but Senator
McCarthy and
McCarthyism faded away.
David Strathairn as Edward R. Murrow
“Good Night, and Good Luck.”
2006.