Many wanted to return to "the good old days. For many, all of those fears and anxieties had one focus — the Red Menace, Russia. Communism threatened to bring economic, political, and social chaos to a people who longed for stability. Right after the Russian Revolution in , some leaders in the union movement had experimented with communism. There had been a backlash against communism then, and there was again during the 50s. Toggle navigation History Timeline. Pre - - - - - - - - - - Present.
The Red Menace. Along the way he describes the chief episodes, figures, and institutions of cold war anticommunism, showing how earlier campaigns against domestic fascists and right-wingers provided most all of anti-communism's tactics and weapons. And he dissects the various anticommunist constituencies, analyzing their origins, motives, and activities. He also confirms much of Elizabeth Bentley's s accusations of Communist infiltrations. American Ways Series. Ivan R. Series: American Ways. John E.
Origins of American communism. Red Scare. Heyday of the movement. Antifascist response in the United States. Roosevelt's foreign policy. The Nazi-Soviet pact. The Sedition Act of targeted people who criticized the government, monitoring radicals and labor union leaders with the threat of deportation.
The fear turned to violence with the anarchist bombings, a series of bombs targeting law enforcement and government officials. Bombs went off in a wide number of cities including Boston, Cleveland, Philadelphia, D. The first Red Scare climaxed in and , when United States Attorney General Alexander Mitchell Palmer ordered the Palmer raids , a series of violent law-enforcement raids targeting leftist radicals and anarchists.
The intense rivalry between the two superpowers raised concerns in the United States that Communists and leftist sympathizers inside America might actively work as Soviet spies and pose a threat to U. Such ideas were not totally unfounded. As apprehension about Soviet influence grew as the Cold War heated up, U. On March 21, , President Harry S. Truman issued Executive Order , also known as the Loyalty Order , which mandated that all federal employees be analyzed to determine whether they were sufficiently loyal to the government.
Yet it was only one of many questionable activities that occurred during the period of anticommunist hysteria known as the Red Scare.
One of the pioneering efforts to investigate communist activities took place in the U. Under pressure from the negative publicity aimed at their studios, movie executives created Hollywood blacklists that barred suspected radicals from employment; similar lists were also established in other industries. Another congressional investigator, U. McCarthy of Wisconsin , became the person most closely associated with the anticommunist crusade—and with its excesses.
McCarthy used hearsay and intimidation to establish himself as a powerful and feared figure in American politics. He leveled charges of disloyalty at celebrities, intellectuals and anyone who disagreed with his political views, costing many of his victims their reputations and jobs. Edgar Hoover , aided many of the legislative investigations of communist activities. An ardent anticommunist, Hoover had been a key player in an earlier, though less pervasive, Red Scare in the years following World War I The information obtained by the FBI proved essential in high-profile legal cases, including the conviction of 12 prominent leaders of the American Communist Party on charges that they had advocated the overthrow of the government.
The Rosenbergs were executed two years later. Public concerns about communism were heightened by international events. In , the Soviet Union successfully tested a nuclear bomb and communist forces led by Mao Zedong took control of China. The following year saw the start of the Korean War , which engaged U. The advances of communism around the world convinced many U.
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