McCarthyism

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  • Topic 7
    • McCarthyism main claims
      • Trumans administartion were too soft on communism
      • US state department had been infiltrated by communits
      • Global communist plot was made against the USA
      • Film industry was full of communists
      • Communistswere in the US army
      • Truman was responsible for the fall of China
    • USA's response
      • American focus shifted from Europe to Asia
      • McCarthy said containment had not been effective in Asia
      • Truman tried to solve the Chinese civil war through diplomacy and McCarthy thought he was too soft
    • UK's response
      • Increased defence and influence in Europe and maintained alliance with USA
      • Agressive anti-communists grew which could destabilise Europe
    • Spy scandals
      • Klaus Fuchs was accused of giving the USSR atomic secrets
      • Alger Hiss was found guilty of giving secret papers from the government to the USSR
        • His case lead to wide spread accusations towards government officials and powerful individuals
    • Hollywood blacklisting
      • Charlie Chaplin was deported from the USA back to the UK as he was being investigated for being a communist sympathiser
      • 350 Hollywood associates were blacklisted during this time
    • Loyalty review board
      • 1,200 fired after 4 years
      • Introduced by Truman in 1947
      • Checked givernment employees
      • 6,000 resigned
      • Many educators from universities were fired
    • Senator Joseph McCarthy
      • Hard drinker and insignificant senator
      • 1953- he was given control of senate comittee on government operations
      • Had many supporters in the working/lower class
      • Died in 1957 from alcohol
      • His 1954 investigation into the army led to his downfall and soon became a joke to Americans
      • Had no evidence to back up his claims
      • February 1950 he held a speech about how the state department was infested with spies

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