McCarthyism

Named for the US Senator Joseph McCarthy, a Republican of Wisconsin, McCarthyism was a period of intense anti-communism in the United States primarily from 1950 to 1954, when the U.S. government was actively engaged in countering American Communist Party subversion, its leadership, and others suspected of being Communists or Communist sympathizers. During this period people from all walks of life became the subject of aggressive "witch-hunts," often based on inconclusive or questionable evidence. It grew out of the Second Red Scare that began in the late 1940s.

Tensions of the times

On 16 August 1948, Harry Dexter White, the first head of the International Monetary Fund, a keystone post war institution, died of a heart attack three days after denying involvement with Soviet espionage during World War II before the House Unamerican Activities Committee (HUAC).

Related Topics:
16 August - 1948 - Harry Dexter White - International Monetary Fund - Soviet espionage - World War II - House Unamerican Activities Committee

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In late summer of 1949, on 29 August the Soviet atomic bomb project was revealed when it exploded a replica of Fat Man; the Soviet Union had gained nuclear technology by espionage from the United States, which spent $4 billion dollars (about $48 billion in today's dollars) to develop during World War II.

Related Topics:
1949 - 29 August - Soviet atomic bomb project - Fat Man - Soviet Union

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Later that fall, on 1 October Maoist forces were victorious after the effective subversion of President Roosevelt?s support for the Chinese Nationalist government during World War II.

Related Topics:
1 October - Maoist - Subversion - President Roosevelt - Chinese Nationalist

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On 21 January 1950, Alger Hiss, the General Secretary of the United Nations Charter meeting, was convicted of perjury for testimony before HUAC regarding espionage on behalf of the Soviet Union. That same month, physicist Klaus Fuchs confessed in Great Britain to espionage on behalf of the Soviet Union while working on the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos National Laboratory during the War.

Related Topics:
21 January - 1950 - Alger Hiss - General Secretary - United Nations - Perjury - HUAC - Espionage - Soviet Union - Klaus Fuchs - Manhattan Project - Los Alamos National Laboratory

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On 25 June, the Korean War began when North Korea invaded South Korea; President Truman authorized deployment of American troops while the Allies of World War II provided little or no assistance. The United States essentially stood alone in a confrontation that had the prospect of nuclear weapons being used ? nuclear weapons technology that had been given to the enemy by US citizens, some within the government. Three weeks later, on 17 July Julius Rosenberg was arrested on charges of espionage regarding the transfer of technology to the Soviet Union to build the atomic weapon.

Related Topics:
25 June - Korean War - President Truman - Allies of World War II - 17 July - Julius Rosenberg

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In May 1951, two members of the Cambridge Five ? Donald MacLean, Second Secretary of the British Embassy in Washington, D.C., and Guy Burgess ? defected to Moscow after it was discovered MacLean transmitted information on the atom bomb from the British Embassy to the Soviet Union during World War II.

Related Topics:
Cambridge Five - Donald MacLean - Guy Burgess

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In this atmosphere, McCarthyism flourished.

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