1950s Part Deux (II):Cold War, Communism, and the Red

Scare

Historical Context for “The Crucible”

Markle | Ann Sobrato HS2011 Spring

“Cold” War? Aftermath of WWII: 2 super powers emerge

U.S. & U.S.S.R. U.S.S.R. (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) “Iron Curtain” “cold” = termed such because of the fact

that there was never all-out war, no guns drawn, no war declared officially

Josef Stalin, Soviet Union's influential leader Height of the Cold War:

Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962 Vietnam War, 1965 (55) -1975

End of Cold War: the Fall of the Berlin Wall, 1989

Communism Def. =

a form of government in which everything is shared by all and divided equally; no social strata (i.e. no upper/middle/lower classes)

Root: community Idea vs praxis

U.S.S.R. was lead by Stalin, a totalitarian leader, like Hitler, who took it to an extreme (he ordered over 200,000 executions)

vs SOCIALISM = belief in common social institutions for the

good of all EX: post-office, fire-, police-departments, social

security, welfare, public education, public transport, universal healthcare

McCarthyism Senator Joseph McCarthy

Republican Wisconsin Senator, 1947-57 Influential U.S. political figure whose visibility

soared as a result of his anti-communist speeches

Accused thousands of Americans of being Soviet spies, including high-level politicians and military leaders

Downfall: when he accused military leaders and the Army itself as being communist

His own party (Republicans) issued a “censure” McCarthyism:

a term developed to describe “making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence”

HUAC trials & Blacklisting HUAC trials

Sen. McCarthy led the House Un-American Activities Committee, or HUAC

HUAC trials were conducted and people were subpoenaed to show up to court to prove that they weren't communist

Reputations were destroyed, livelihoods Blacklisting:

Several prominent Hollywood artists were “blacklisted” or barred from producing any work Rosenbergs were executed, 1953 (on espionage

charges) Arthur Miller Langston Hughes Dorothy Parker

The Arms & Space Races

Arms race– Nuclear Power

– MIRBs & IRBMs = Medium and Intermediate Ballistic Missiles (nuclear war heads with rockets attached)

Space race– Sputnik vs. NASA (formed in 1958)

• Moon Walk• Cell phone• 488 million dollars, Federal Budget; in 1966,

68 times that amount

The Red Scare

The 1950s actually saw the 2nd Red Scare Red refers to communism, and scare

refers to fear Together, “fear of communism” The media (newspapers, press, t.v.,

magazines, etc.) perpetuated the Red Scare through propaganda

Many Americans became fearful of Soviet spies

Fear & Contemporary CXNs

U.S. Patriot Act 2001 Waterboarding, torture of Muslim

Americans (Al Qaeda) Secret prisons (Abu Ghraib) 9/11 aftermath ICE (Immigrant & Customs Enforcement)

Raids Arizona Immigration law & Shootings Live Oak High School