Chapter 21
Section 3 The Cold War and American Society
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Chapter Objectives
Section 3: The Cold War and American
Society
• Describe the new Red Scare. 
• Discuss how American society reflected fears
of the nuclear age.
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Guide to Reading
Main Idea
The Cold War heightened Americans’ fears of
Communist infiltration and atomic attack. 
Key Terms and Names
• subversion 
• McCarthyism 
• loyalty review
program 
• censure 
• Alger Hiss 
• fallout shelter
• perjury 
• fallout 
• McCarran Act 
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A New Red Scare
• During the 1950s, rumors and
accusations of Communists in the United
States led to fears that Communists were
attempting to take over the world. 
• The Red Scare began in September
1945, and escalated into a general
fear of Communist subversion–an
effort to secretly weaken a society and
overthrow its government.
(pages 668–670)
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A New Red Scare (cont.)
• In early 1947, Truman established the
loyalty review program to screen all
federal employees for their loyalty. 
• The program’s aim was to calm
Americans. 
• Instead, it led to the fear that
Communists were infiltrating the
government.
(pages 668–670)
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A New Red Scare (cont.)
• FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover went to the
House Un-American Activities Committee
(HUAC) to urge them to hold public
hearings on Communist subversion. 
• Under Hoover’s leadership, the FBI
sent agents to investigate suspected
groups and to wiretap thousands of
telephones.
(pages 668–670)
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A New Red Scare (cont.)
• In 1948 Time magazine editor Whittaker
Chambers testified to HUAC that several
government officials had also been
Communists or spies at the time. 
• The most prominent among these was
lawyer and diplomat Alger Hiss. 
• Hiss had served in Roosevelt’s
administration, attended the Yalta
conference, and helped with the
organization of the UN.
(pages 668–670)
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A New Red Scare (cont.)
• Hiss denied the charges, but he was
convicted of committing perjury, or
lying under oath.
(pages 668–670)
A New Red Scare (cont.)
• The search for spies intensified when the
Soviet Union produced an atomic bomb. 
• Klaus Fuchs, a British scientist, admitted
giving information to the Soviet Union. 
• This led to the arrest of Julius and Ethel
Rosenberg, a New York couple who
were members of the Communist Party
and were charged with heading a Soviet
spy ring. 
• Although many believed the Rosenbergs
were not guilty, the couple was executed
(pages 668–670)
in June 1953.
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A New Red Scare (cont.)
• In 1946 American cryptographers cracked
the Soviet spy code, allowing them to
read messages between Moscow and the
United States. 
• This did not become public knowledge
until 1995, when the government
revealed Project Venona’s existence. 
• It provided strong evidence against the
Rosenbergs.
(pages 668–670)
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A New Red Scare (cont.)
• The federal government set the example
for many state and local governments,
universities, businesses, unions, and
churches to start finding Communists.
(pages 668–670)
A New Red Scare (cont.)
Why did the hunt for Communist spies
increase with the Soviet Union’s production
of the atomic bomb?
Many believed that the Soviet Union could
not have produced the atomic bomb
without help. The belief was that American
Communists must have sold secrets of the
atomic bomb to the Soviets.
(pages 668–670)
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“A Conspiracy So Immense”
• In 1949, with the Soviet Union testing
an atomic bomb and China falling to
communism, Americans felt they were
losing the Cold War. 
• Americans continued to believe that
Communists were inside the
government. 
• Senator Joseph R. McCarthy, in a
political speech, stated that he had
a list of 205 Communists in the state
department.
(pages 671–673)
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“A Conspiracy So Immense” (cont.)
• McCarthy won the Senate race after
accusing his opponent of being a
Communist. 
• He accused Democratic Party leaders
of corruption and of protecting
Communists. 
• Others made similar charges, causing
Americans to begin to believe them.
(pages 671–673)
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“A Conspiracy So Immense” (cont.)
• Congress passed the Internal Security
Act or McCarran Act in 1950. 
• The act made it illegal to “combine,
conspire, or agree with any other
person to perform any act which would
substantially contribute to . . . the
establishment of a totalitarian
government.”
(pages 671–673)
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“A Conspiracy So Immense” (cont.)
• Senator Joseph R. McCarthy became the
chairman of the Senate subcommittee on
investigations. 
• His investigation turned into a witch
hunt as he searched for disloyalty
based on poor evidence and fear. 
• He ruined reputations without proper
evidence. 
• This tactic became known as
McCarthyism.
(pages 671–673)
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“A Conspiracy So Immense” (cont.)
• In 1954 Americans watched televised
Army-McCarthy hearings and saw how
McCarthy attacked witnesses, and his
popularity faded. 
• Finally, an army lawyer named Joseph
Welch stood up to McCarthy. 
• Later that year, the Senate passed a
vote of censure, or formal disapproval,
against McCarthy.
(pages 671–673)
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“A Conspiracy So Immense” (cont.)
Why were people afraid to challenge
McCarthy and his tactics?
People were afraid to challenge McCarthy
because they feared McCarthy would
accuse them of being Communists.
(pages 671–673)
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Life During the Early Cold War
• Communism and the threat of the atomic
bomb dominated life for Americans and
their leaders in the 1950s. 
• The threat of an atomic attack against
the United States forced Americans to
prepare for a surprise attack.
(pages 673–674)
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Life During the Early Cold War (cont.)
• Although Americans tried to protect
themselves, experts realized that for
every person killed instantly by a nuclear
blast, four more would later die from
fallout, the radiation left over after the
blast. 
• Some families built fallout shelters in
their backyards and stocked them with
canned food.
(pages 673–674)
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Life During the Early Cold War (cont.)
• The 1950s was a time of great contrasts. 
• Images of the Cold War appeared in
films and popular fiction. 
• Along with these fears of communism
and spies, the country enjoyed
postwar prosperity and optimism.
(pages 673–674)
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Life During the Early Cold War (cont.)
How did Americans prepare for an atomic
attack?
American schools had bomb shelters and
held bomb drills. Some families built fallout
shelters in their backyards and filled them
with canned food.
(pages 673–674)
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Checking for Understanding
Define Match the terms on the right with their definitions on
the left.
__
E 1. a shelter built with the intent to
house and protect people from
nuclear fallout
__
B 2. lying when one has sworn
under oath to tell the truth
__
A 3. a systematic attempt to
overthrow a government by
using persons working secretly
from within
__
D 4. radioactive particles dispersed
by a nuclear explosion
__
C 5. to express a formal disapproval
of an action
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A. subversion
B. perjury
C. censure
D. fallout
E. fallout shelter
Checking for Understanding (cont.)
Explain the goals of Project Venona.
The goals of Project Verona were to crack
the Soviet spy code and confirm Soviet
spying.
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Checking for Understanding (cont.)
Reviewing Facts What did the McCarran
Act propose to do?
The McCarran Act proposed to make
it illegal to associate with or be a
Communist.
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No. Few Communists
were actually found.
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