Getting Started
Following World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union entered a period of intense geopolitical rivalry known as the Cold War. This global conflict created a powerful wave of anxiety within the United States, leading to a widespread fear of internal communist influence and subversion. This period, known as the Second Red Scare, raised fundamental questions about the balance between national security and individual civil liberties.
What You Should Be Able to Do
Explain the primary causes of the Second Red Scare in the post-World War II era.
Describe the policies and methods used by the government and private groups to identify suspected communists.
Analyze the effects of anticommunist measures on American politics, society, and culture.
Explain how both major political parties supported the goal of containing communism while debating the domestic methods used to achieve it.
Key Developments & Analysis
Causes of the Second Red Scare
The intense fear of communism that swept the nation in the late 1940s and 1950s was not baseless but grew from a combination of international events and domestic anxieties.
Geopolitical Tensions: The primary cause was the escalating Cold War. The Soviet Union's consolidation of control over Eastern Europe, the communist victory in the Chinese Civil War in 1949, and the Soviet development of an atomic bomb the same year created a sense of a world-wide communist threat. These events made the U.S. policy of containment—the strategy of preventing the spread of communism abroad—seem all the more urgent.
Fears of Domestic Infiltration: High-profile espionage cases fueled public paranoia. The trial of Alger Hiss, a former State Department official accused of spying, and the conviction and execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg for passing atomic secrets to the Soviets, suggested that communists had already infiltrated the highest levels of the U.S. government.
Political Opportunism: Ambitious politicians from both parties recognized that anticommunism was a powerful political weapon. By accusing opponents of being "soft" on communism, they could discredit them and gain popular support, turning a national security issue into a tool for partisan advantage.
Effects & Impacts of the Second Red Scare
The campaign to expose suspected communists had profound and lasting effects on American government and society, creating a climate of fear and conformity.
Immediate Effects: Policies and Methods
The federal government, along with state and private entities, implemented a range of measures to root out perceived disloyalty.
Government Loyalty Programs: In 1947, President Harry Truman issued an executive order creating the Federal Employee Loyalty Program. This program investigated millions of federal employees, leading to hundreds of dismissals and thousands of resignations based on suspected disloyalty or even "potential disloyalty." Many states and cities followed with their own loyalty oaths, which required public employees to swear they were not communists.
Congressional Investigations: The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) gained prominence by investigating alleged communist influence in various sectors of American life. Its most famous investigation targeted the film industry, where the "Hollywood Ten"—a group of writers and directors—were jailed for contempt of Congress after refusing to testify. This led to the creation of blacklists, which were lists of individuals with suspected communist ties who were subsequently denied employment, effectively ruining their careers.
The Rise of McCarthyism: The Red Scare reached its zenith with the rise of Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin. In 1950, he claimed to have a list of known communists working in the State Department. For four years, McCarthy used his position to make sensational, often baseless, accusations, holding televised hearings that created a media frenzy. McCarthyism became the term for this practice of making accusations of subversion or treason without proper regard for evidence.
Long-Term Impacts: A Climate of Fear and Debate
The methods used to fight communism had deep social and political consequences that resonated for decades.
Suppression of Dissent: The fear of being labeled a communist stifled political debate and discouraged dissent. Labor unions purged suspected radicals, and conformity in political and social thought was strongly encouraged. The broad definition of "un-American" could be applied to anyone challenging the status quo.
Bipartisan Consensus and Internal Debate: As the broader strategy of containing communism abroad enjoyed wide support from both Democrats and Republicans, a fierce debate emerged over the methods used at home. While President Truman initiated loyalty programs, he later criticized the excesses of McCarthyism. Similarly, Republicans like President Eisenhower privately disapproved of McCarthy's tactics but were hesitant to challenge him publicly for fear of being seen as weak on communism. This shows that the core goal was shared, but the means were highly contentious.
Erosion of Civil Liberties: The Red Scare led to a significant erosion of civil liberties. The principle of "innocent until proven guilty" was often ignored, and accusations alone could destroy a person's reputation and livelihood. This period forced a national conversation about the inherent conflict between protecting the nation from legitimate threats and safeguarding the constitutional rights of its citizens.
Data & Organization Tools
Timeline of the Second Red Scare
| Year | Event | Significance |
|---|---|---|
| 1947 | Truman issues Executive Order 9835 | Establishes the Federal Employee Loyalty Program, institutionalizing anticommunist screening. |
| 1947 | HUAC investigates Hollywood | The "Hollywood Ten" are cited for contempt, leading to the creation of industry blacklists. |
| 1949 | "Fall" of China; Soviets test A-bomb | Heightens U.S. fears of global communist expansion and technological parity. |
| 1950 | Alger Hiss convicted of perjury | Solidifies public belief that communist spies had infiltrated the U.S. government. |
| 1950 | Sen. Joseph McCarthy's Wheeling Speech | McCarthy claims to have a list of communists in the State Dept., launching his political crusade. |
| 1953 | The Rosenbergs are executed | The execution for espionage deepens the national sense of a grave internal threat. |
| 1954 | Army-McCarthy Hearings | Televised hearings expose McCarthy's bullying tactics to the American public, leading to his downfall. |
| 1954 | McCarthy is censured by the Senate | Marks the effective end of McCarthy's power and the peak of the Red Scare's intensity. |
Evidence Bank
Containment: The post-WWII U.S. foreign policy strategy of preventing the spread of Soviet and communist influence. This global strategy provided the rationale for the domestic Red Scare, as policymakers feared internal subversion could undermine containment abroad.
Second Red Scare: An era of intense anticommunist fear and persecution in the United States from the late 1940s to the mid-1950s. It was broader and longer-lasting than the first Red Scare that followed World War I.
House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC): A congressional committee that conducted highly publicized investigations into supposed communist infiltration in American society, most notably in Hollywood and the federal government.
Hollywood Ten: A group of ten screenwriters and directors who refused to answer HUAC's questions about their political affiliations. They were cited for contempt of Congress, jailed, and blacklisted from the film industry.
Loyalty Order (Executive Order 9835): Issued by President Truman in 1947, it established a program to investigate the loyalty of federal employees. It empowered the government to dismiss workers for "reasonable grounds" of disloyalty.
Alger Hiss: A former high-ranking State Department official accused of being a Soviet spy in 1948. He was convicted of perjury in 1950, a case that seemed to confirm fears of communist infiltration at the highest levels of government.
McCarthyism: The political practice of making unsubstantiated accusations of disloyalty or treason, named after Senator Joseph McCarthy. The term is now synonymous with demagogic attacks using public fear.
Army-McCarthy Hearings: A series of televised 1954 hearings where Senator McCarthy accused the U.S. Army of harboring communists. His aggressive and reckless tactics during the hearings turned public opinion against him and led to his censure by the Senate.
Skill Snapshots
Causation: The Soviet acquisition of the atomic bomb and the fall of China to communism (causes) led directly to intensified efforts within the U.S. to expose suspected communists and spies (effect).
Comparison: The First Red Scare (1919-1920) primarily targeted immigrants, anarchists, and labor organizers, whereas the Second Red Scare (c. 1947-1957) focused more on perceived infiltration of government, entertainment, and intellectual institutions.
CCOT:
Baseline: Before WWII, communist and socialist ideas, while a minority view, were a part of the American political discourse.
Change: The post-war Red Scare dramatically narrowed the range of acceptable political speech, making association with communism a career-ending accusation.
Continuity: The tension between protecting national security and upholding civil liberties has remained a persistent theme in American history, from the Alien and Sedition Acts to the post-9/11 era.
Common Misconceptions & Clarifications
Misconception: Senator Joseph McCarthy started the Red Scare.
- Clarification: McCarthy was a late but highly visible figure who amplified an existing phenomenon. The Red Scare began with President Truman's Loyalty Program and HUAC's investigations several years before McCarthy made his first accusations.
Misconception: The Red Scare was exclusively a Republican campaign.
- Clarification: Anticommunism was a bipartisan issue. Democratic President Truman launched the first federal loyalty programs. Both parties supported the broader goal of containment, though they fiercely debated the fairness and constitutionality of the methods used at home.
Misconception: Everyone accused of being a communist was a spy for the Soviet Union.
- Clarification: While some spies were uncovered, the vast majority of people targeted by investigations, loyalty oaths, and blacklists were persecuted for their political beliefs, past associations, or refusal to cooperate with investigators, not for acts of espionage.
One-Paragraph Summary
The Second Red Scare was a period of intense domestic anticommunism in the United States that emerged from the geopolitical anxieties of the Cold War. Fueled by events like the Soviet atomic bomb test, the communist victory in China, and high-profile espionage cases, a broad political consensus formed around the need to contain communism. This consensus, however, fractured over the methods used to fight perceived subversion at home. Government actions like loyalty programs and congressional investigations by HUAC, along with the demagogic tactics of Senator Joseph McCarthy, created a climate of fear that stifled dissent and ruined countless careers. Ultimately, the Red Scare exposed a deep and enduring tension in American democracy between the demands of national security and the protection of individual civil liberties.