# data[].attributes.body
Shows some of the propoganda/fear tactics used at the time

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
For information on user permissions, please read our Terms of Service. If you have questions about licensing content on this page, please contact ngimagecollection@natgeo.com for more information and to obtain a license. If you have questions about how to cite anything on our website in your project or classroom presentation, please visit our FAQ page.

Media

Some media assets (videos, photos, audio recordings and PDFs) can be downloaded and used outside the National Geographic website according to the Terms of Service. If a media asset is downloadable, a download button appears in the lower right hand corner ( ) of the media viewer. If no button appears, you cannot download or save the media.

Text

Text on this page is printable and can be used according to our Terms of Service.

Interactives

Any interactives on this page can only be played while you are visiting our website. You cannot download interactives.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
For information on user permissions, please read our Terms of Service. If you have questions about licensing content on this page, please contact ngimagecollection@natgeo.com for more information and to obtain a license. If you have questions about how to cite anything on our website in your project or classroom presentation, please visit our FAQ page.

# data[].attributes.body
Senator Joseph McCarthy was known for accusing many people of being communists. He conducted witch hunts to find more "UnAmerican" communists.
https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/einstein/global-citizen/mccarthy-era

# data[].attributes.body
The "Red Menace" was seen as a cancer spreading across the nation that needed to be stopped.

# data[].attributes.body
This video illustrates what McCarthyism was and how it affected people personally, professionally and overall. McCarthyism was the act of making accusations of treason without any solid evidence.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
What is McCarthyism? And how did it happen? - Ellen Schrecker

# data[].attributes.body
This link explains Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. Julius Rosenberg was a Soviet spy who passed information to the Soviet Union and recruited Manhattan Project spies. In 1951, Julius and Ethel were convicted of espionage for providing the Soviet Union with classified information. In 1953, they were both executed.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Espionage was a major concern for the United States government during the Manhattan Project. Some of the individuals who worked on the Manhattan Project were spies and provided valuable information on the design of the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union secretly conducted its first atomic weapons test on August 29, 1949. To this day, historians and scientists debate how much espionage sped up the progress of the Soviet Union's nuclear weapons program.

Julius Rosenberg was a key Soviet spy who passed along information to the Soviet Union and recruited Manhattan Project spies. He was U.S. citizen and electrical engineer. In 1951, Julius and his wife Ethel were tried and convicted of espionage for providing the Soviet Union with classified information. They were executed in 1953. Their trial remains controversial today.

In the early 1930s, Ethel became a member of the Young Communist League. Through her activism with the Communist Party, she met Julius Rosenberg in 1936. They married in 1939. In 1940, Julius joined the U.S. Army Signal Corps as a civilian engineer. He left the Communist Party to avoid suspicions. By 1942, Julius was heavily involved with espionage activities for the Soviet Union. He provided classified documents and led an espionage network within the Manhattan Project, recruiting spies, most notably Russell McNutt and Ethel's brother, David Greenglass, along with his wife Ruth. Ruth joined the Young Communist League (YCL) after graduating high school. She and David met in the YCL, and married in 1942.

Spy Ring

By 1945, the Soviets considered Rosenberg and his espionage network to be providing valuable information. The network included: engineers (Julius Rosenberg, Nathan Sussman, Joel Barr, Alfred Sarant, Morton Sobell), a military aviation scientist ( William Perl), a civil design engineer (McNutt), and a machinist (Greenglass), among others. Greenglass served in the Army's Special Engineer Detachment (SED), and was a machinist at Los Alamos. McNutt was an engineer who worked at the Kellex design bureau in New York City. By 1944, Julius had recruited him to spy for the Soviets. Perl contributed to the development of the first jet fighter in the U.S. The engineers worked at top electronic firms, and they passed on confidential and useful information to the Soviet Union.

Greenglass passed information to Julius, including information about the high explosive lenses being developed at Los Alamos for the implosion bomb. Harry Gold, a lab chemist and Soviet spy, passed this information to the USSR. Gold paid Greenglass $500 in exchange for information about the implosion lens in the atomic bomb. He also worked with Klaus Fuchs, a physicist at Los Alamos and Soviet spy, to pass on atomic research secrets.

Trial

In 1949, the U.S. Army Signal Intelligence Service (SIS) discovered that Fuchs was a Soviet spy. Decrypted cables revealed this information through the Venona project. In February 1950, Fuchs was arrested in the United Kingdom. His arrest began a chain of investigations, which ultimately led to the arrest of Julius and Ethel. Fuchs was charged with violating the Official Secrets Act, and he confessed to spying for the Soviet Union. That same year, the FBI arrested both Greenglass and Gold based on information provided by Fuchs. When questioned, Greenglass admitted to spying. He also named Julius and Ethel Rosenberg as contacts and denied that his wife, Ruth Greenglass, was involved with any espionage activities.

On July 17, 1950 the FBI arrested Julius, and one month later Ethel was arrested. On March 6, 1951 their trial began in New York's Southern District federal court. The trial lasted for nearly one month. They were charged with conspiracy and providing atomic secrets to the USSR. They could not be charged for treason since the U.S. was not at war with the USSR. Lawyers Emanuel Bloch and Alexander Bloch defended the Rosenbergs. They also defended Sobell, who was put on trial with the Rosenbergs.

Judge Irving R. Kaufman presided over the trial. He opened the trial by stating: "The evidence will show that the loyalty and alliance of the Rosenbergs and Sobell were not to our country, but that it was to Communism. Communism in this country and Communism throughout the world. Sobell and Julius Rosenberg, classmates together in college, dedicated themselves to the cause of Communism. This love of Communism and the Soviet Union soon led them into a Soviet espionage ring."

During the trial, both Ethel and Julius pleaded the Fifth Amendment when asked repeated questions related to espionage, and when questioned about being members of the Communist Party. Not answering questions proved to be problematic for the Rosenbergs because during the era of McCarthyism, many believed that the refusal to answer questions was an admission of guilt and involvement with the Communist Party. Ethel and Julius denied all allegations of espionage, and refused to provide any names.

Controversial Testimony of David Greenglass

The FBI arrested Greenglass for espionage in June of 1950. The direct evidence of the Rosenbergs' involvement came from the confessions and testimonies of David and Ruth Greenglass. Since the Rosenbergs were being charged with conspiracy, no tangible evidence was required.

Greenglass secretly testified before a grand jury in August 1950. In this testimony he named Julius and claimed he was recruited to join the Soviet spy ring by him. He stated that Julius asked him to help provide secrets about atomic weapons so that Julius could pass on the information to the USSR. He then claimed that he passed this information to Julius on a New York street corner, and that Ethel was not involved. He affirmed: "I said before, and say it again, honestly, this is a fact: I never spoke to my sister about this at all."

Due to the Greenglass' August 1950 testimony, and no tangible evidence, there was a weak case against Ethel for her alleged involvement. But this testimony was not shown to lawyers during the Rosenbergs' trial.

Just ten days before the start of the Rosenbergs' trial in February 1951, David Greenglass re-testified, and changed his original statements. This new testimony, now against Julius and Ethel, was part of a deal granted to the Greenglasses. In exchange for this new testimony, Ruth was permitted to remain with their children and care for them. The Greenglasses now claimed that Julius, with help from Ethel, recruited David into the atomic spy ring in 1944. At this time, Greenglass worked at Los Alamos. They claimed that David gave a sketch and description of an atomic bomb to Julius in September 1945. Now, however, Greenglass claimed that this exchange occurred in the living room of the Rosenbergs' New York apartment, and that Ethel was present. They stated Ethel was present during all meetings, typing notes for Julius.

Ruth stated in her witness testimony: "Julius then took the info into the bathroom and read it and when he came out he called Ethel and told her she had to type this info immediately. Ethel then sat down at the typewriter which she placed on a bridge table in the living room and proceeded to type the info which David had given to Julius." After this new testimony, the charges against Ruth were dropped. She was viewed as a co-conspirator and never indicted.

Some scholars believe that Ruth may have been the individual to type notes, due to her past involvement with the Communist Party, and conflicting statements made by David. In later interviews, he claimed: "I frankly think my wife did the typing, but I don't remember," and, "My wife is more important to me than my sister." Overall, their testimony remains controversial because of the deal, the lack of tangible evidence, and the conflicting statements. The Greenglasses never withdrew their new testimony.

Immediate Aftermath

On March 29, 1951, the court convicted Julius and Ethel Rosenberg of conspiracy to commit espionage. On April 5, Judge Kaufman sentenced them to death, and sentenced Sobell to 30 years in prison. Some reports claim that the Rosenbergs were offered a plea deal, where admittance of their guilt would grant them a prison sentence. David Greenglass received a 15 year prison sentence and was released in 1960. In early 1953, he wrote a letter to President Eisenhower, requesting that Ethel and Julius' sentences be commuted to prison. This request was denied. Judge Kaufman justified his decision for the death penalty by stating: "I consider your crimes worse than murder. I believe your conduct in putting into the hands of the Russians the A-bomb years before our best scientists predicted Russia would perfect the bomb has already caused, in my opinion, the Communist aggression in Korea, with the resultant casualties exceeding fifty thousand and who knows how many millions more of innocent people may pay the price of your treason."

Due to Red Scare trials and newspaper headlines, Americans in the 1940s, and 1950s knew that Soviet espionage was serious. It was known that some communists, such as Fuchs, had spied for the Soviets. Despite these fears, the trial of the Rosenbergs produced mixed reactions among the public. Many Americans who were politically left-wing believed the Rosenbergs were persecuted solely for their past involvement with the Communist Party. Their legal team worked to have the verdict overturned, but their efforts failed. Neither President Truman nor President Eisenhower granted requests to remove the death sentence. The attorneys appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court nine times, but the Court never reviewed the record.

J. Edgar Hoover publicly opposed the trial. He believed the execution of Ethel, a young mother, would reflect negatively on both the FBI and the Justice Department. Many commentators of the time argued that the death penalty was used unjustly in the courts as a way to force the Rosenbergs and others to confess to espionage, or to name others involved. The majority of newspapers at the time in the U.S. did, however, support the death sentence, arguing that the punishment was fair. In contrast to the American media, European newspapers did not support the ruling, and there were some protests against it throughout Europe. Despite some public outrage and failed appeals, the Rosenbergs were executed by electric chair at Sing Sing Prison on June 19, 1953. They were the only American civilians executed for espionage during the Cold War.

Venona Project and Recent Evidence

During the 1940s, the U. S. Army Signal Intelligence Service (SIS) conducted the Venona project. The project aimed to gather and decode messages sent by Soviet military intelligence (KGB and GRU) to the U.S. Venona would also help the government locate spy rings. The Venona project documents were still highly classified at the time of the trial and therefore could not be used as evidence.

Many of these decoded messages identified Soviet spies within the Manhattan Project. Theodore Hall is one example. He was a physicist at Los Alamos, and a valuable source to the Soviets. He escaped prosecution because his involvement was not proven until the Venona documents became unclassified. Some scholars argue that if it would have been possible to use Venona documents in court, both Hall and McNutt would have been revealed as spies and prosecuted, along with Greenglass and Fuchs. The documents were not declassified until 1995.

Venona documents proved that Julius Rosenberg helped lead a productive ring of Soviet spies. Soviet cables were deciphered, revealing Julius' codename to be "LIBERAL." "LIBERAL" was mentioned in numerous documents. The documents suggest his involvement was with military and industrial espionage, rather than atomic espionage, as previously believed. The documents also suggest the Ethel acted as an accessory to her husband's activity, but that she did not play a principal role. Some scholars suggest that the chances of Ethel being executed would have been less likely had Venona documents been unclassified and used in the trial.

In 2008, the transcripts of 43 out of 46 witness testimonies before the grand jury were released, including Ruth's testimony. These transcripts revealed the contradictions between the Greenglasses' testimony before the grand jury and during the trial. That same year, Sobell participated in an interview with the New York Times. He stated that he and Julius passed military and industrial information to the Soviet Union, hoping it would help them defeat the Nazis in World War II. He also stated that he believed Ethel was only guilty of being Julius' wife and was not an active participant in the espionage ring.

Scholarly Debates

There are some conflicting assessments among historians regarding the outcome of the Rosenberg trial. Walter Schneir, in Final Verdict, argues that evidence against Ethel was fabricated by the Greenglasses. He also explains that Rosenberg was fired from the Army Corps of Engineers in January of 1945, and that KGB files state his espionage activities ended by 1945, so the meeting David Greenglass mentioned could never have occurred. Schneir argues that Ruth worked alone and met with a Soviet agent to deliver a sketch of a bomb, which was placed in a KGB file center on December 27, 1945. His research relies heavily on newly released KGB files.

Others argue that Julius and Ethel were guilty, with Ethel playing a minor role, but that their trial and sentence were unjust due to the lack of evidence. Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz stated that the Rosenbergs were "guilty and framed," suggesting that they were spies, but that evidence was still fabricated against them, causing them to have an unjust trial and punishment.

In 2014, five historians concluded that Soviet documents show Ethel was actively involved and attended meetings with Julius and his sources, but that there is no evidence to suggest she typed specific notes. Ronald Radosh concludes, after Sobell's 2008 confessions, that the Rosenbergs were Soviet spies. He does, however, believe that the prosecutors worked to guarantee a conviction and abused the legal system. In his viewpoint, Ethel was only minimally involved and therefore her execution was unjust.

The trial continues to be controversial today. Many individuals still question whether or not there was enough valid evidence used during the trial to convict and execute the Rosenbergs. Others question if the punishment was just for their crimes. Some atomic scientists have claimed that the information David and Julius passed along would not have been of great importance to the USSR because it was incomplete and not very detailed.

Due to the recent evidence provided by Sobell's interview, witness testimonies, and the Venona documents, calls have been made for Ethel's exoneration. The debate over her involvement is ongoing. Julius and Ethel's children, Michael and Robert, maintain that their mother was innocent and have created an online petition to exonerate her. Because of the Venona documents, they now believe that Julius was a Soviet spy. They claim: "The Greenglasses' lies were necessary to obtain Ethel's conviction; the K.G.B. did not give her a code name, and evidently did not consider her a spy; and the prosecution's strategy was to use Ethel to coerce her husband to confession."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Espionage was a major concern for the United States government during the Manhattan Project. Some of the individuals who worked on the Manhattan Project were spies and provided valuable information on the design of the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union secretly conducted its first atomic weapons test on August 29, 1949.

# data[].attributes.body
The HUAC is a group that would investigate disloyalty and label those who were suspected of any relation to communism as "red".

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) was created in 1938 to investigate alleged disloyalty and subversive activities on the part of private citizens, public employees, and those organizations suspected of having Communist ties.

# data[].attributes.body
This explains what the Hollywood blacklist is and the meaning & history behind it.

# data[].attributes.body
Sean Hannity calls congressional oversight of Trump “the biggest, most gruesome display of modern-day McCarthyism” .

# data[].attributes.body
This link shows pictures and explains how Ethel and Julius were spies. It also shows a picture of their kids.

# data[].attributes.body
This link gives a thorough explanation of the communist media scare (the belief that communists were putting messages into films and media, as well as bashing America and tarnishing our reputation in films distributed internationally). It resulted in anticommunist films being made and various actors / screenwriters were blacklisted from the film making community for a little while until the hysteria passed.

# data[].attributes.body
This explains what the red scare is and why its called that

# data[].attributes.body
This website discusses some of the most prolific Hollywood stars that were deported due to assumptions that they supported Communism. Victims included actor Charlie Chaplin, poet Langston Hughes, and more.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
"Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?" was the $64,000 question asked by the notorious House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Between the late 1940s and 1950s, the Second Red Scare was an era marked by great fear that communism was on the rise in America. Led by Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy, government officials accused hundreds of Americans of being members of the Communist Party or being sympathetic to the cause. Most of those accused of treason and/or subversion were union workers, government employees, prominent intellectuals and Hollywood artists.

Among those in the last category, here are some of the famous faces that were blacklisted in Hollywood and spied on during the Cold War era of McCarthyism:

Charlie Chaplin

The FBI referred to Charlie Chaplin as a "parlour Boshevik," believing him to be a Communist sympathizer and a possible security risk to the country. Although Chaplin denied being a Communist, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover was determined to have the actor deported and worked with immigration services to prevent him from re-entering the States after he flew to London to promote one of his films.

Hoover even had MI5 spy on Chaplin, but in the end, the foreign agency concluded he was no security risk and instead, believed he was merely a left-leaning progressive.

Still, Chaplin was banned from the U.S. Instead of fighting to re-enter the country, Chaplin decided to make his home in Switzerland and released a statement about his experience:

"...Since the end of the last world war, I have been the object of lies and propaganda by powerful reactionary groups who, by their influence and by the aid of America's yellow press, have created an unhealthy atmosphere in which liberal-minded individuals can be singled out and persecuted. Under these conditions I find it virtually impossible to continue my motion-picture work, and I have therefore given up my residence in the United States."

Langston Hughes

Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes was known for his support of Communist groups in the U.S. and even at one point traveled to the Soviet Union to make a film, but he always denied being a member.

Along with his affinity for Marxist ideas, Hughes leftist views were reflected in some of his poetry, which Communist newspapers in the U.S. often published. It was for all these reasons, Congress prompted him to testify.

When asked why he never became a member of the Community Party, Hughes wrote, "it was based on strict discipline and the acceptance of directives that I, as a writer, did not wish to accept."

In 1953, during his public testimony before McCarthy and the HUAC committee, he also added, "I never read the theoretical books of socialism or communism or the Democratic or Republican parties for that matter, and so my interest in whatever may be considered political has been non-theoretical, non-sectarian, and largely emotional and born out of my own need to find some way of thinking about this whole problem of myself."

After testifying before Congress, Hughes pulled away from his associations with Communism and also became less political in his poetry.
READ MORE: Langston Hughes' Impact on the Harlem Renaissance
Orson Welles

As a director, actor and writer Orson Welles was at the peak of his professional career when the U.S. government began investigating him as a possible closeted Communist. His 1941 film Citizen Kane, whose main character starts out as an idealistic social servant and grows into a power-hungry manipulative capitalist, was considered evidence by the FBI that the film was nothing but a smear campaign orchestrated by the Community Party. He was considered such a threat that the government had him on a list of people who should be apprehended in case of a national emergency.

Knowing he was being targeted by the FBI, Welles left the States in 1948 and moved to Europe, where he lived for the next eight years. A decade later, he found his way of expressing his distaste for the Red Scare through the film noir Touch of Evil, which depicted crooked law enforcement who chose to abuse their power by pursuing witch hunts instead of protecting their fellow citizens.

Leonard Bernstein

"I am not now or at any time have ever been a member of the Communist Party," so swore famed composer-conductor Leonard Bernstein on an affidavit. Still, the FBI was convinced he was a dangerous political subversive and spied on him for the next three decades, even getting him blacklisted at CBS and denying his request to renew his passport.

Having supported the protestors of Vietnam and the activities of the Black Panthers, Bernstein was under the watchful eye of Hoover, who was determined to ruin his reputation, especially for supporting the Panthers. Like many other prominent figures in the entertainment industry, Bernstein was mentioned in the anti-Communist rightwing publication, the Red Channels.

Lena Horne

Despite her talent, beauty and fame in Hollywood, singer and actress Lena Horne was no stranger to racism and discrimination. Her experience inspired her to become politically active, and many of the organizations she attended happened to include members who were radical leftists and Communists.

The FBI took notice and had her blacklisted from Hollywood, forcing her to spend a number of years touring as a nightclub singer to make a living. Determined to get her life and career back on track, Horne publicly denied she was affiliated with the Communist Party and wrote a series of letters to important individuals in Hollywood denouncing its ideology. Eventually, she was able to return to film and television and also produced hit records. Still, her taste for politics was not so easily intimidated. When the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s emerged, Horne was a prominent supporter of the cause.

Dalton Trumbo

Screenwriter Dalton Trumbo wrote the Academy Award-winning films Gun Crazy (1950), Roman Holiday (1953) and The Brave One (1956), yet he was unable to receive credit because of his blacklisted status. Instead, he had to sell his scripts under various pseudonyms.

But unlike many of his Hollywood colleagues, Trumbo was once a card-carrying member of the Communist Party. Still, when questioned by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) for his political ties, he defiantly refused to answer their questions and was subsequently held in contempt, thrown into federal prison for a year, and banned from the industry.

It wasn't until 1960 that Trumbo's official re-entry into Hollywood was made complete, and that was thanks to colleagues like actor Kirk Douglas and director Otto Preminger who were adamant he receive credit for his work in Spartacus and Exodus.

Dorothy Parker

One of the wittiest writers of her time, acerbic poet and critic Dorothy Parker got a real taste of activism when she was arrested at a 1927 political rally in support of Italian anarchists Bartolomeo Vanzetti and Nicola Sacco, who were tried and convicted of murder on dubious evidence.

Parker's arrest inspired her to continue fighting for a number of political and activist causes, including the Screenwriters Guild and the Anti-Nazi League, which were considered "Communist fronts" by the FBI. Although Parker was never a member of the Communist Party, she was known to be sympathetic to its ideology and had no qualms associating with local organizations.

When McCarthyism was in full force, Parker was at the apex of her writing career. With her name on the blacklist, she was still able to get work but sensed her services were not in high demand.

When FBI agents came to her house and questioned whether she was undermining the government, she promptly replied, "Listen, I can't even get my dog to stay down. Do I look to you like someone who could overthrow the government?"

Parker was in her 60s when the FBI finally decided she wasn't a potential national security threat.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Charlie Chaplin and 6 Other Artists Who Were Blacklisted in Hollywood During the Red Scare

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
"Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?" was the $64,000 question asked by the notorious House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in the U.S. House of Representatives. Between the late 1940s and 1950s, the Second Red Scare was an era marked by great fear that communism was on the rise in America.

# data[].attributes.body
In Hollywood, their were 10 film directors suspected of having ties to communism. They refused to answer any questions about their communist progressions.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hollywood-Ten

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/huac
investigated allegations of communist activity in the U.S. during the early years of the Cold War (1945-91). Established in 1938, the committee wielded its subpoena power as a weapon and called citizens to testify in high-profile hearings before Congress.

# data[].attributes.body
This website talks about the idea of McCarthyism being revamped and how HUAC and FBI forced Hollywood produces to create a list of suspected communists.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
I suppose we should all be happy that "McCarthyism" has become such a widely used accusation that it appears in almost every news cycle, and that there is now a consensus that it is a "bad thing."

Unfortunately, the term has become almost entirely evacuated of its historical and political meaning. Exhibit A: Republican Senator Mitch McConnell accused critics of "McCarthyism" for pointing out that McConnell blocking investigations into Russian election meddling benefited President Vladimir Putin.Even worse, President Trump accusedactress Debra Messing of McCarthyism and in the same tweet calledfor Messing, an outspoken liberal whom he considers a political enemy, to be "thrown off television."

Historians need to set the record straight. Let's start by defining the term on the basis of the actual history. Historians and non-historians alike use the term "McCarthyism" to refer to a broadly applied mid-twentieth century red scare, named after the junior Senator from Wisconsin, Joe McCarthy, who stole the anticommunist limelight at its later stages in February 1950. The anticommunist repression McCarthy fronted had been going onsince at least 1947, and some historians argue, myself included, it began in the late 1930s.

With or without McCarthy at its head, McCarthyism was practiced very deliberately and narrowly. It used the investigative and police powers of the state to target communists and socialists (and a few liberals), exclude them from governing institutions, and banish them from most other parts of American political culture.

At its height in the 1950s and early 1960s, McCarthyism most effectively purged government agencies, schools and universities, film and television production, theater, publishing, and journalism. It ruined the careers of thousands of teachers, actors, writers, and civil servants. It was a constitutional nightmare that violated the right to free speech and assembly, the right of association, the right of due process, the protection against unwarranted surveillance, and the protection against self-incrimination.

Even more important: It closed off a whole tradition of political activism and speech from the American body politic. Until the 1970s, for example, American teachers still had to sign loyalty oaths denying communist affiliation in order to get jobs in American schools. Even today, left-wing teachers must be guarded about their political views and affiliations.

Thus, McCarthyism is a unique political phenomenon that had far-reaching and damaging consequences. Fundamentally, McCarthyism was the exclusion and persecution directed by the state- by investigative agencies like the FBI and specially empowered Senate and House committees -- against the American left. These are big and ugly shoes to fill. Any claim to being the victim of a "new McCarthyism" would require the repetition of key aspects of this historical tradition.

Liberal actress Debra Messing has not filled those big and ugly shoes. Not by a long shot. When she asked for the list of attendees at a Hollywood fundraiser for President Trump's 2020 campaign, she may have violated her own liberal principles. When she and Eric McCormick, her former co-star on the Will and Grace TV show, suggested they didn't want to work with Trump supporters in future productions, they may have let their political views get in the way of their artistic better judgment.

But they didn't practice McCarthyism. President Trump's call for Messing to be "thrown off television" for what she and McCormick wrote is more what real McCarthyism looks like: a powerful political leader trying to get employers to fire people for saying something he doesn't like and considers a threat.

Whoopie Goldberg, another of Messing critics, astutely noted that holding actors accountable for their political views bears some likeness to the Hollywood blacklist, which forced hundreds of communists, socialists, liberals and otherwise merely decent people out of their jobs in the film industry. But Goldberg is exaggerating when she says, "the last time people did this (referring to Messing's remarks), people ended up killing themselves." Yes, blacklisted artists and actors did commit suicide. But the blacklist was not a particular actor saying they didn't want to work with others because they found their politics offensive. The real Hollywood blacklist was an act of political repression directed by the state against left-wing Hollywood artists.

Let's recall how the blacklist actually started and worked: In 1942 the FBI, under the direction of J. Edgar Hoover, began an investigation into communist influence in Hollywood. An extreme conservative in charge of the most powerful police agency in American history, Hoover believed that films exercised an undue influence on the political views and values of the American public, and that communists and other freethinkers were at fault.

As historian John Sbardellati recounted in his recent study of the FBI's Hollywood probe, Hoover encouraged the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC), a sub-committee established in the 1930s to investigate a wide range of subversive organizations, to undertake an investigation of Hollywood communism in 1947 when the House and all of its committees were taken over by Republicans after their triumph in the 1946 elections. HUAC Republicans gladly used the high public profiles of their Hollywood targets, which included popular actors like John Garfield and Paul Robeson, to jump-start the following year's presidential campaign against President Harry Truman and the legacy of the New Deal.

What quickly unfolded was a series of hearings and investigations in which Hollywood personalities were called before Congress to attest to their loyalty and to deny membership in the Communist Party of the United States. Not all the people who were persecuted by HUAC were communists, but many of them belonged to the party at some point in their careers, including blacklisted writers and directors like Albert Maltz, Dalton Trumbo and John Howard Lawson.

HUAC and the FBI forced Hollywood producers to create a blacklist of suspected communists, disloyal liberals and socialists, and generally uncooperative witnesses before HUAC and other committees. Some conservative movie studio heads like Louis Mayer gladly complied. Others did so out of fear that a broader and more punitive form of censorship would be imposed on them from Washington if they did not. Until the early 1960s, Hollywood studios refused to hire anyone on that blacklist or distribute films on which they worked.

While the blacklist may appear to Whoopie Goldberg to have started as a matter of personal choice like Messing's and McCormick's, and while right-wing Republican Mitch McConnell may protest the "new McCarthyism" when Democrats call him "Moscow Mitch," McCarthyism isn't just someone acting prejudicially on the basis of their political views. however ill conceived those choices may be. Nor is it the stifling of free speech on college campuses by "political correctness," however damaging that might be to robust intellectual and political discussion.

McCarthyism was and is a long-standing practice of using the investigative and police powers of national and state governments to exclude the left from American political life. It attacks the left, demonizing communists and socialists, and building public hysteria to close down liberal programs in order to gain conservative advantage.

That historical tradition, sadly, has not ended - witness concerted Republican efforts to "put socialism on trial" as Trump economic adviser Larry Kudlow declared it, and "convict it." That is the real McCarthyism threatening American democracy at this moment. However misconceived Debra Messing's publicly announced prejudices, there is no comparison.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
I suppose we should all be happy that "McCarthyism" has become such a widely used accusation that it appears in almost every news cycle, and that there is now a consensus that it is a "bad thing." Unfortunately, the term has become almost entirely evacuated of its historical and political meaning.

# data[].attributes.body
This link explains what the "Hollywood Ten" were and how the accusations snowballed out of control, just like in the Crucible. During he 50s ten American writers, actors and movie producers were blacklisted for refusing to state whether or not they were Communist because they found it to be against their rights. As a result, they faced punishment in form of a fee and even jail time and were met with challenges in the entertainment industry.

# data[].attributes.body
This explains what the red scare is and how it got it's name

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The end of the fighting in Europe did not bring peace and security to the United States. Hatred of the brutal "Huns" was quickly replaced by a fear of anarchists, communists and immigrants. The word "Red" has long been associated with the Communists and Socialists, while "White" has been associated with the conservatives. For instance, in the aftermath of World War I, control of Russia was contested between the Red Army of the Bolsheviks and various White armies. The entire prospect of growing Communist influence became known as the "Red Menace."

While President Wilson labored for his version of world peace in 1919, a series of violent events occurred at home that indicated the depth of public unease:

Seattle docks were idled by a strike in January and U.S. Marines were sent in response to a plea from the mayor.

Race riots in several dozen cities led to the deaths and injury of hundreds during the summer.

Boston was briefly paralyzed by a police strike in September; looting and theft were rampant.

Steelworkers seeking an eight-hour day struck in the fall, slowing the return of the nation's economy to normal peacetime functioning.

In November, a labor organizer for the Industrial Workers of the World (I.W.W.) was seized by citizens of Centralia, Washington, castrated and hanged.

Indeed, following the triumph of the Bolsheviks in Russia (November 1917) and the establishment of the Soviet Union, efforts were made by communist agents to promote revolution in Western Europe and the United States.
In 1919, Wilson appointed a new attorney general, A. Mitchell Palmer, a Pennsylvania attorney with liberal credentials, including past support for workers' rights and women's suffrage. Palmer, however, reversed his views. In April, the Post Office discovered 38 bombs that had been mailed to leading American politicians and capitalists. Shortly thereafter, an Italian anarchist was blown up outside Palmer's residence. The nation's top law enforcement official became convinced that a radical plot was underway.

Word was leaked to the press that the government was tracking the activities of prominent American citizens who had voiced criticisms of the war effort and other government policies, including:

Jane Addams, the famed social worker, who had become and advocate of conscientious objection in her fight against conscription

Charles A. Beard, an economic and cultural historian at Columbia University, who had ruffled feathers by suggesting that the Founding Fathers had been motivated by the profit motive in many of their actions

Lillian Wald, the noted public health pioneer and advocate for many recent immigrants.

Palmer enlisted the services of a young attorney, J. Edgar Hoover , who worked to enforce the provisions of the Espionage Act (1917) and its companion legislation, the Sedition Act (1918).
The first in a series of so-called Palmer Raids was launched on November 7, 1919 - the second anniversary of the October Revolution in Russia. Thousands of anarchists and communists were rounded up, many of whom were detained for long periods without being formally charged. In December, in a highly publicized move, more than 200 alien detainees were deported to Finland and later to Russia. Placed aboard the Buford, dubbed the "Soviet Ark," were such prominent leftists as Emma Goldman, the Russian-born anarchist, who had drawn disapproval by opposing the draft and promoting birth control.

Despite finding no credible evidence that a communist plot was underway, Palmer staged more raids in January 1920. With the assistance of local law enforcement officials throughout the country, as many as 6,000 suspects were arrested and detained.

Palmer claimed to know that May 1, the socialist Labor Day, would bring massive demonstrations as a prelude to revolution. The American public was apprehensive as the date approached, but the predictions proved to be without foundation and Palmer's standing declined rapidly. He was criticized sharply for conducting searches without warrants and for denying detainees legal representation. Most damning were the charges of some who believed that Palmer had manufactured the crisis as a means to gain the Democratic presidential nomination in 1920.

The events of 1919-1920 were the first of a series of "red scares" in American history in which the government would clamp down on real or imagined domestic revolutionaries.

Looking back on the Jazz Age in 1931, F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote that it really began in 1919:

The ten-year period that, as if reluctant to die outmoded in its bed, leaped to a spectacular death in October, 1929, began about the time of the May Day riots in 1919. When the police rode down the demobilized country boys gaping at the orators in Madison Square, it was the sort of measure bound to alienate the more intelligent young men from the prevailing order. We didn`t remember anything about the Bill of Rights until Mencken began plugging it, but we did know that such tyranny belonged in the jittery little countries of South Europe. If goose-livered business men had this effect on the government, then maybe we had gone to war for J.P. Morgan`s loans after all.

See also the Sacco and Vanzetti trial.

- - - Books You May Like Include: ----

Dark Tide: The Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919 by Stephen Puleo.
The compelling story of a man-made disaster amid the tensions of the early twentieth century. Shortly after noon on January 15, 1919, a fifty-foot-ta...
Pivotal Decades: The United States, 1900-1920 by John J. Cooper.
These were the years in which two of our greatest presidents--Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson--transformed the office into the center of power; ...
Reds: McCarthyism in Twentieth-Century America by Ted Morgan.
In this landmark work, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ted Morgan examines the McCarthyite strain in American politics, from its origins in the period t...
Blacklisted by History: The Untold Story of Senator Joe McCarthy and His Fight Against America's Enemies by M. Stanton Evans.
Accused of creating a bogus Red Scare and smearing countless innocent victims in a five-year reign of terror, Senator Joseph McCarthy is universally r...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The end of the fighting in Europe did not bring peace and security to the United States. Hatred of the brutal "Huns" was quickly replaced by a fear of anarchists, communists and immigrants. The word "Red" has long been associated with the Communists and Socialists, while "White" has been associated with the conservatives.

# data[].attributes.body
The article explains the experience of the Hollywood Ten, 10 of Hollywood's most famous directors and stars who were blacklisted after going against the HUAC

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
In October 1947, 10 members of the Hollywood film industry publicly denounced the tactics employed by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), an investigative committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, during its probe of alleged communist influence in the American motion picture business. These prominent screenwriters and directors, who became known as the Hollywood Ten, received jail sentences and were banned from working for the major Hollywood studios. Their defiant stands also placed them at center stage in a national debate over the controversial anti-communist crackdown that swept through the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Besides the Hollywood Ten, other members of the film industry with alleged communist ties were later banned from working for the big movie studios. The Hollywood blacklist came to an end in the 1960s.

Reds in Hollywood

In the years following World War II (1939-45), the United States and Soviet Union engaged in a tense military and political rivalry that became known as the Cold War. Although the U.S. and its communist rival rarely confronted each other directly, they both attempted to extend their influence and promote their systems of government around the world. A number of Americans believed that their nation's security depended on preventing the spread of communism, and this attitude created an atmosphere of fear and suspicion in many parts of the country.

Did you know? Many of the Hollywood Ten writers continued producing screenplays under assumed names after they were blacklisted. Using the pseudonym Robert Rich, Dalton Trumbo penned the script for "The Brave One," which earned an Academy Award for Best Screenplay in 1957.

The House Un-American Activities Committee was charged with investigating allegations of communist influence and subversion in the U.S. during the early years of the Cold War. Committee members quickly settled their gaze on the Hollywood film industry, which was seen as a hotbed of communist activity. This reputation originated in the 1930s, when the economic difficulties of the Great Depression increased the appeal of leftist organizations for many struggling actors and studio workers.

With the dawning of the Cold War, anti-communist legislators grew concerned that the movie industry could serve as a source of subversive propaganda. Although popular Hollywood films of the 1930s and 1940s offered little evidence of an overriding Socialist agenda, the investigation proceeded. In October 1947, more than 40 people with connections to the movie industry received subpoenas to appear before HUAC on suspicion of holding communist loyalties or being involved in subversive activities.

Accusing the Accusers

During the investigative hearings, members of HUAC grilled the witnesses about their past and present associations with the Communist Party. Aware that their answers could ruin their reputations and careers, most individuals either sought leniency by cooperating with investigators or cited their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. However, a group of 10 Hollywood screenwriters and directors took a different approach and openly challenged the legitimacy of the committee's investigations.

The 10 individuals who defied HUAC were Alvah Bessie (c. 1904-85), Herbert Biberman (1900-71), Lester Cole (c. 1904-85), Edward Dmytryk (1908-99), Ring Lardner Jr. (1915-2000), John Howard Lawson (1894-1977), Albert Maltz (1908-1985), Samuel Ornitz (1890-1957), Robert Adrian Scott (1912-73) and Dalton Trumbo (1905-76). These men, who became known as the Hollywood Ten, not only refused to cooperate with the investigation but denounced the HUAC anti-communist hearings as an outrageous violation of their civil rights, as the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gave them the right to belong to any political organization they chose. Some compared the committee's coercive methods and intimidating tactics to the oppressive measures enacted in Nazi Germany. "I am not on trial here," declared screenwriter Lawson. "This committee is on trial."

Imprisoned and Blacklisted

The Hollywood Ten paid a high price for their actions at the HUAC hearings. In November 1947, they were cited for contempt of Congress. Facing trial on that charge in April 1948, each man was found guilty and sentenced to spend a year in prison and pay a $1,000 fine. After unsuccessfully appealing the verdicts, they began serving their terms in 1950. While in prison, one member of the group, Edward Dmytryk, decided to cooperate with the government. In 1951, he testified at a HUAC hearing and provided the names of more than 20 industry colleagues he claimed were communists.

A more lasting punishment came as a result of the movie industry blacklist. Studio executives did not want their business to be associated with radical politics in the minds of the movie-going public and therefore agreed that they would not employ the Hollywood Ten (with the exception of Dmytryk) or anyone else suspected of being affiliated with the Communist Party. The motion picture industry blacklist grew steadily larger as Congress continued its investigations into the 1950s, and numerous careers were damaged as a result. The blacklist ended in the 1960s.

The Hollywood Ten were controversial figures at the time they launched their protest, and their actions continue to inspire debate decades later. Some tend to view their punishment as justified, since the individuals were admitted communists, while others generally view them as heroic figures who spoke out against the abuses of the Red Scare-and in defense of the U.S. Constitution-when many of their colleagues remained silent.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In October 1947, 10 members of the Hollywood film industry publicly denounced the tactics employed by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), an investigative committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, during its probe of alleged communist influence in the American motion picture business.

# data[].attributes.body
This shows how to exposure of Stalin and his acts after his death affected other immigrant family's in America at the time.

# data[].attributes.body
It talks about the HUAC hearings in 1947 that led to prison terms for the Hollywood Ten screenwriters who refused to name names.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) hearings in 1947 that led to prison terms for the Hollywood Ten screenwriters who refused to name names, and to others informing on their industry colleagues, is, where I come from, an old story.

# data[].attributes.body
This link explains what the Blacklist was, why it occurred, and what happened to the people who were accused. I find it interesting that the play we are reading now accurately describes what occurred during this time

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
In October 1947, 10 members of the Hollywood film industry publicly denounced the tactics employed by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), an investigative committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, during its probe of alleged communist influence in the American motion picture business. These prominent screenwriters and directors, who became known as the Hollywood Ten, received jail sentences and were banned from working for the major Hollywood studios. Their defiant stands also placed them at center stage in a national debate over the controversial anti-communist crackdown that swept through the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Besides the Hollywood Ten, other members of the film industry with alleged communist ties were later banned from working for the big movie studios. The Hollywood blacklist came to an end in the 1960s.

Reds in Hollywood

In the years following World War II (1939-45), the United States and Soviet Union engaged in a tense military and political rivalry that became known as the Cold War. Although the U.S. and its communist rival rarely confronted each other directly, they both attempted to extend their influence and promote their systems of government around the world. A number of Americans believed that their nation's security depended on preventing the spread of communism, and this attitude created an atmosphere of fear and suspicion in many parts of the country.

Did you know? Many of the Hollywood Ten writers continued producing screenplays under assumed names after they were blacklisted. Using the pseudonym Robert Rich, Dalton Trumbo penned the script for "The Brave One," which earned an Academy Award for Best Screenplay in 1957.

The House Un-American Activities Committee was charged with investigating allegations of communist influence and subversion in the U.S. during the early years of the Cold War. Committee members quickly settled their gaze on the Hollywood film industry, which was seen as a hotbed of communist activity. This reputation originated in the 1930s, when the economic difficulties of the Great Depression increased the appeal of leftist organizations for many struggling actors and studio workers.

With the dawning of the Cold War, anti-communist legislators grew concerned that the movie industry could serve as a source of subversive propaganda. Although popular Hollywood films of the 1930s and 1940s offered little evidence of an overriding Socialist agenda, the investigation proceeded. In October 1947, more than 40 people with connections to the movie industry received subpoenas to appear before HUAC on suspicion of holding communist loyalties or being involved in subversive activities.

Accusing the Accusers

During the investigative hearings, members of HUAC grilled the witnesses about their past and present associations with the Communist Party. Aware that their answers could ruin their reputations and careers, most individuals either sought leniency by cooperating with investigators or cited their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. However, a group of 10 Hollywood screenwriters and directors took a different approach and openly challenged the legitimacy of the committee's investigations.

The 10 individuals who defied HUAC were Alvah Bessie (c. 1904-85), Herbert Biberman (1900-71), Lester Cole (c. 1904-85), Edward Dmytryk (1908-99), Ring Lardner Jr. (1915-2000), John Howard Lawson (1894-1977), Albert Maltz (1908-1985), Samuel Ornitz (1890-1957), Robert Adrian Scott (1912-73) and Dalton Trumbo (1905-76). These men, who became known as the Hollywood Ten, not only refused to cooperate with the investigation but denounced the HUAC anti-communist hearings as an outrageous violation of their civil rights, as the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gave them the right to belong to any political organization they chose. Some compared the committee's coercive methods and intimidating tactics to the oppressive measures enacted in Nazi Germany. "I am not on trial here," declared screenwriter Lawson. "This committee is on trial."

Imprisoned and Blacklisted

The Hollywood Ten paid a high price for their actions at the HUAC hearings. In November 1947, they were cited for contempt of Congress. Facing trial on that charge in April 1948, each man was found guilty and sentenced to spend a year in prison and pay a $1,000 fine. After unsuccessfully appealing the verdicts, they began serving their terms in 1950. While in prison, one member of the group, Edward Dmytryk, decided to cooperate with the government. In 1951, he testified at a HUAC hearing and provided the names of more than 20 industry colleagues he claimed were communists.

A more lasting punishment came as a result of the movie industry blacklist. Studio executives did not want their business to be associated with radical politics in the minds of the movie-going public and therefore agreed that they would not employ the Hollywood Ten (with the exception of Dmytryk) or anyone else suspected of being affiliated with the Communist Party. The motion picture industry blacklist grew steadily larger as Congress continued its investigations into the 1950s, and numerous careers were damaged as a result. The blacklist ended in the 1960s.

The Hollywood Ten were controversial figures at the time they launched their protest, and their actions continue to inspire debate decades later. Some tend to view their punishment as justified, since the individuals were admitted communists, while others generally view them as heroic figures who spoke out against the abuses of the Red Scare-and in defense of the U.S. Constitution-when many of their colleagues remained silent.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In October 1947, 10 members of the Hollywood film industry publicly denounced the tactics employed by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), an investigative committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, during its probe of alleged communist influence in the American motion picture business.

# data[].attributes.body
"No one dared tangle with McCarthy for fear of being labeled disloyal." This quote is a lot like what is going on in Salem. If you speak out against witchcraft, then you would be accused of being a witch. If anyone spoke out against McCarthy, they would be accused of being a communist.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
1. The Presidency

2. Historical Moments

3. The Age of Eisenhower

McCarthyism and the Red Scare

In the end, President Eisenhower had no choice but to fight back against Senator Joseph McCarthy-and he did

Senator Joseph McCarthy

In the early 1950s, American leaders repeatedly told the public that they should be fearful of subversive Communist influence in their lives. Communists could be lurking anywhere, using their positions as school teachers, college professors, labor organizers, artists, or journalists to aid the program of world Communist domination. This paranoia about the internal Communist threat-what we call the Red Scare-reached a fever pitch between 1950 and 1954, when Senator Joe McCarthy of Wisconsin, a right-wing Republican, launched a series of highly publicized probes into alleged Communist penetration of the State Department, the White House, the Treasury, and even the US Army. During Eisenhower's first two years in office, McCarthy's shrieking denunciations and fear-mongering created a climate of fear and suspicion across the country. No one dared tangle with McCarthy for fear of being labeled disloyal.

Any man who has been named by a either a senator or a committee or a congressman as dangerous to the welfare of this nation, his name should be submitted to the various intelligence units, and they should conduct a complete check upon him. It's not too much to ask.
Senator Joseph McCarthy, 1953

It has long been a subject of debate among historians: Why didn't Eisenhower do more to confront McCarthy? Journalists, intellectuals, and even many of Eisenhower's friends and close advisers agonized over what they saw as Ike's timid approach to McCarthyism. Despite his popularity and his enormous political capital, they believed, Ike refused to engage directly with McCarthy. By avoiding the Red-hunting senator, some have argued, Eisenhower allowed McCarthyism to continue unchecked.

In this letter to his brother Milton, Eisenhower explains, "As for McCarthy. Only a short-sighted or completely inexperienced individual would urge the use of the office of the presidency to give an opponent the publicity he so avidly desires."

By contrast, later scholars working from the documentary record perceived a design in Eisenhower's strategy with McCarthy. Ike adopted an "indirect approach." Instead of going right at McCarthy, Eisenhower worked behind the scenes to undercut and stymie the senator and his attacks. The political scientist Fred Greenstein, for example, argued that Eisenhower's handling of McCarthy provides evidence of a "hidden hand" approach to government. In this interpretation, Ike rode above the fray of politics while secretly pulling levers and using White House influence to obstruct McCarthy and his allies.

President read my text with great irritation, slammed it back at me and said he would not refer to McCarthy personally-'I will not get in the gutter with that guy.'
C. D. Jackson, Eisenhower speechwriter, 1953

Late in his first presidential campaign, Eisenhower excised a defense of General George C. Marshall from a speech he gave in McCarthy's home state of Wisconsin. He addressed the issue more abstractly, stating, "The right to question a man's judgment carries with it no automatic right to question his honor."

Looking at all the evidence, the clearest conclusion is that Eisenhower did not want to confront Joe McCarthy at all. And during 1953, he tried to avoid the whole issue, hoping the Senate would silence the explosive senator. McCarthy was a Republican, after all, and many fellow senators supported him. Ike needed to keep his party unified to pass bills in other areas; battling McCarthy would only stir up a civil war inside the GOP.

Furthermore, Eisenhower did not want to appear "soft" on the problem of internal subversion. There had, after all, been real spies who penetrated into the State Department, notably Alger Hiss.

Alger Hiss

And Communist agents had stolen classified secrets from the wartime Manhattan Project that built the atomic bomb. When Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were condemned to die in the electric chair as punishment for their theft of atomic secrets, Eisenhower did not for a moment consider granting them clemency. On June 19, 1953, they were both put to death.

Eisenhower in 1953 improvised in dealing with McCarthy, at first trying to ignore him, then trying to outdo him in the Red-hunting business. Then he tried to seduce him with promises of new legislation to destroy Communism in America. None of these tactics worked.
'The Age of Eisenhower,' chapter 6

The first two paragraphs of the March 13, 1954 New York Times story on McCarthy, Cohn, and David Schine

But at the start of 1954, the picture changed. Joe McCarthy turned his investigatory resources on the US Army and on members of the administration itself. Eisenhower had no choice but to fight back. The first move the White House made was to try to discredit the men around McCarthy, notably the lawyer Roy Cohn, who was leading the investigation, and Cohn's assistant David Schine, who had recently been drafted into the Army.

The Army compiled a damaging dossier of dirt on Cohn, showing that he used threats and intimidation to demand that Schine be given plum assignments and easy duty. The White House leaked this dossier to the press and Congress. McCarthy and Cohn now stood accused of abuse of power.

A 2003 report from NBC News reviewed newly released documents related to the McCarthy hearings

Ike went one step further. In order to close down McCarthy's reckless use of subpoenas to compel witnesses to testify before his committee, Eisenhower invoked executive privilege.

In this May 17, 1954 memo to the Secretary of Defense, Eisenhower ordered, "You will instruct employees of your Department that in all of their appearances before the Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Operations regarding the inquiry now before it, they are not to testify to any such conversations or communications or to produce any such documents or reproductions. This principle must be maintained regardless of who would be benefitted by such disclosures."

In May 1954, Ike simply said that administration officials and all executive branch employees would ignore any call from McCarthy to testify. Eisenhower explained his action, declaring that "it is essential to efficient and effective administration that employees of the executive branch be in a position to be completely candid in advising with each other on official matters," without those conversations being subject to Congressional scrutiny.

It was a bold and daring move, and it worked. McCarthy, his credibility in tatters and now starved of witnesses, hit a brick wall-and his fellow senators turned against him. In early December 1954, the Senate passed a motion of condemnation, in a vote of 67 to 22. McCarthy was ruined-and within three years he was dead from alcohol abuse. The era of McCarthyism was over. Ike had helped bring it to a bitter end.

Senate Resolution 301 censured McCarthy for conduct that "tends to bring the Senate into disrepute"

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
McCarthyism and the Red Scare | Miller Center

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The paranoia about the internal Communist threat-what we call the Red Scare-reached a fever pitch between 1950 and 1954, when Senator Joe McCarthy of Wisconsin, a right-wing Republican, launched a series of highly publicized probes. Journalists, intellectuals, and even many of Eisenhower's friends and close advisers agonized over what they saw as Ike's timid approach to McCarthyism.

# data[].attributes.body
This image displays the devil painting the picture of a Bolshevik. This is a political party that was founded by Vladimir Lenin. It was later renamed the communist party. The man is displayed with other terrible people from religious history so it is rallying really religious people to the cause.

# data[].attributes.body
Clarifies why actors were blacklisted and what that entailed.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
In the context of the 1940s and 1950s, a blacklist was a list of persons whose opinions or associations were deemed politically inconvenient or commercially troublesome, thereby subjecting them to either difficulty finding work or termination from employment. During this period, blacklists became particularly prominent in the industries investigated by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) for possible links to the Communist Party of the United States, most notably Hollywood film making. HUAC was seeking to purge the country of any communist influences. In this photo, seven Hollywood figures of the Hollywood Ten arrive at U.S. Federal Court in Washington June 22, 1950, to face charges of contempt for defiance of the House Committee on Un-American Activities. From left to right, Samuel Ornitz, Ring Lardner Jr., Albert Maltz, Alvah Bessie, Lester Cole, Herbert Biberman, and Edward Dmytryk. (AP Photo, used with permission from the Associated Press)

In the context of the 1940s and 1950s, a blacklist was a list of persons whose opinions or associations were deemed politically inconvenient or commercially troublesome, thereby subjecting them to either difficulty finding work or termination from employment.

Blacklists became prominent in Hollywood

During this period, blacklists became particularly prominent in the industries investigated by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) for possible links to the Communist Party of the United States, most notably Hollywood film making. HUAC was seeking to purge the country of any communist influences.

John Howard Lawson, screenwriter; presses his face close to the microphone as he lashes out at the House Un-American Activities Committee in Washington, Oct. 27, 1947, during a tumultuous exchange which ended in his citation for contempt of Congress. He refused to answer questions as to whether he was or had ever been a member of the Communist party. Lawson was the first of the Hollywood Ten to testify as an 'unfriendly witness.' Lawson was cited for contempt of court, a citation some say violated his First Amendment rights. (AP Photo/Beano Rollins, used with permission from the Associated Press)

HUAC investigated communism in Hollywood

HUAC hearings concerning Hollywood were prompted when the Screen Writers Guild (SWG) became the writers' official bargaining agent in the 1930s. The extreme right saw the unionization of writers as the first step toward the domination of the screen by communists. Those who joined the Communist Party often did so because of social conscience at a time when it was in the business of fighting racism and the economic depression at home and fascism abroad.

In the 1940s, U.S. Communists generally did not see themselves as defending the Soviet Union; rather, they were defending the "free world," of which Russia was considered to be a part. In the 1930s and 1940s, communist screenwriters defended the Stalinist regime because, as U.S. screenwriter and author Albert Maltz once said, "There was very little available knowledge of the U.S.S.R."

The Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals (MPA), an organization that wanted to defend the movie industry against communist infiltration, encouraged HUAC to investigate communism in Hollywood. In May 1947, members of the MPA testified before the committee on that subject during closed hearings. As a result, many people in the entertainment industry were subpoenaed for the October 1947 hearings by the HUAC. Those subpoenaed were either "friendly" or "unfriendly" witnesses.

HUAC held hearings for 'friendly' and 'unfriendly' witnesses

Before the hearings began, the "unfriendly" witnesses asserted that the investigation was a violation of their freedom of expression. A group of Hollywood liberals formed the Committee for the First Amendment (CFA) to lend support to the "unfriendly" witnesses.

In holding its hearings, HUAC had two main purposes. First, it intended to prove that the SWG had members who were communists. Second, it hoped to show that these writers were able to insert subversive propaganda into Hollywood films. But Jack Warner of Warner Brothers, the first witness at the October hearings, assured HUAC that no "subversive propaganda" had ever been in any Warner Brothers films.

'Hollywood Ten' could make no protest while testifying

When the first of the "unfriendly" witnesses, John Howard Lawson, asked permission to read a statement, HUAC chairman John Parnell Thomas insisted on reading the statement before granting permission. Outraged by Lawson's critique of HUAC, Thomas denied the request, and the interrogation was under way.

Lawson was gaveled into silence every time he started to say something beyond what he was asked. He then grew angrier and angrier as Thomas's gavel cut him off. He was able, however, to make a few protests by saying, "The question of Communism is in no way related to this inquiry, which is an attempt to get control of the screen and to invade the basic rights of American citizens in all fields." He refused to answer the question "Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?"

Lawson was eventually ordered off the witness stand and cited for contempt of Congress. The rest of those who became known as the "Hollywood Ten" tried to express their views, but most had little chance to make any form of a protest before being gaveled and hauled off the stand.

Others testifying were Albert Maltz and fellow screenwriters Dalton Trumbo, Alvah Bessie, Samuel Ornitz, Ring Lardner Jr., and Lester Cole; directors Herbert Biberman and Edward Dmytryk; and screenwriter and producer Adrian Scott. Shortly after the hearings, the CFA was quickly disbanded.

In this photo, screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, left, and his wife, Cleo, listen from the audience as the chairman of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) announces a contempt citation against Trumbo at a hearing in Washington, D.C., Oct. 28, 1947. On the witness stand Trumbo, one of the Hollywood Ten called before the committee, declined to say whether he is or has been a Communist. Trumbo served a prison sentence in 1950 and was blacklisted in the film industry. The beginning of the end of the Hollywood blacklist took place in 1960 when actor and producer Kirk Douglas gave screenwriting credit to Dalton Trumbo for the movie "Spartacus." Unfortunately, after the blacklist was lifted most of those on it were not able to resume their careers in the entertainment industry. (AP Photo, used with permission from the Associated Press)

Some said HUAC violated First Amendment rights

Opponents of the contempt citations argued that HUAC had conducted its inquiry illegally by violating the constitutional rights of free speech and thought. In speaking out against the committee, Rep. Herman P. Eberharter of Pennsylvania asserted that the House had the choice of supporting either HUAC or free speech. "We cannot do both," he said. "I cannot escape the conclusion . . . that the purpose of this committee was not to destroy an existent subversive threat in Hollywood, but to intimidate and control the movie industry."

Communists in Hollywood were put on a blacklist

In November 1947, film executives and producers met in New York and issued the Waldorf Statement, which declared that they would not hire any member of the Hollywood Ten unless he was acquitted or had declared under oath that he was not a communist. They also would not knowingly hire anyone who was a communist. After being cited for contempt, the Hollywood Ten went to jail in 1950 once their appeals were exhausted.

During the second set of HUAC hearings in 1951, many of those subpoenaed used the Fifth Amendment to avoid self-incrimination, and some of them named names of those they believed to be communists. Because of the blacklist, some screenwriters had to leave the country to find work. Many had to resort to using pseudonyms to continue working.

The beginning of the end of the Hollywood blacklist took place in 1960 when actor and producer Kirk Douglas gave screenwriting credit to Dalton Trumbo for the movie "Spartacus." Unfortunately, after the blacklist was lifted most of those on it were not able to resume their careers in the entertainment industry.

Send Feedback on this article

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In the context of the 1940s and 1950s, a blacklist was a list of persons whose opinions or associations were deemed politically inconvenient or commercially troublesome, thereby subjecting them to either difficulty finding work or termination from employment.

# data[].attributes.body
This video explains what HUAC is and the guy explains the House Un-American Activities Committee and what their role was.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
HUAC Explained (House Un-American Activities Committee)

# data[].attributes.body
An example of the propaganda used to instill fear into American Citizens. These types of posters blew the small problem out of proportion(into a bigger matter then what was necessary).

# data[].attributes.body
This is about how the government was trying to spread the fear of communism and what it could do if it took over. The photo shows communism ripping apart the united states

# data[].attributes.body
This explains the history of McCarthyism and how it came to an end

# data[].attributes.headline
Tells you about the trials and investigations 

# data[].attributes.subject
Tells you about the trials and investigations 

# data[].attributes.body
http://www.coldwarla.com/the-hollywood-blacklist.html

# data[].attributes.body
This shows that the idea of communism was thought to be planned for along time, and anyone could secretly be a communist.