Red Scare - Domestic Cold War
Your text reviews the Red Scare that began in the late 1940s.
In it you see hearings held by the House Committee on Un-American Activities (which
became the House Un-American Activities Committee or HUAC) especially those
investigating communism in Hollywood. Take note of the words of French writer JeanPaul Sartre: "Your country is sick with fear. You're afraid of the shadow of your own
bomb."
Children did not escape the Cold War's reach. The United States Civil Defense
Adminstration sponsored films shown in schools to teach children how to "survive"
nuclear attack through Bert the Turtle who tells them to "duck and cover."
Senator McCarthy and the Red Scare
American prosperity after World War II had its costs as the Cold War took American
lives in Korea and Vietnam. Within the United States, the Cold War demanded pledges
of loyalty from citizens in every institution, from the university to trade unions and from
the mass media to government itself.
Senator Joseph McCarthy (Republican from Wisconsin) joined the anti-communist
crusade in 1950 when he declared that he had a list of more than 200 Communists in
the State Department. Though his investigations failed to uncover a single Communist
there, McCarthy accused others: Democrats were "soft" on Communism and had "lost"
China to the Communists. Soon the anti-Communist hysteria became known as
"McCarthyism." In 1954, McCarthy set his sights on the U.S. Army. The Army–McCarthy
hearings were the first nationally televised congressional inquiry, lasted for 36 days,
and were viewed, at least in part, by an estimated 80 million people.
Here is an edited exchange between the legal counsel for the Army Joseph Welch and
Senator McCarthy. Many mark this as the beginning of McCarthy's downfall. (7:17)
Some of you may have seen George Clooney's 2005 film Good Night, and Good Luck. It
portrayed Washington State University alumnus Edward R. Murrow and his
courageous exposure of the bullying and unsubstantiated charges of Senator Joseph
McCarthy that destroyed the lives of many Americans who, labeled as "Reds," lost their
jobs.
In his television program See It Now, Murrow took on McCarthy when most in power,
including President Eisenhower, refused to rein McCarthy in. CBS released these
programs on VHS and DVD. Watch them if you have an opportunity to see what
television investigative journalism once was. Clooney interspliced historical footage of
McCarthy into his film. In other words, McCarthy played himself.
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Murrow concludes his series on McCarthy's tactics with these words that ring as true
today as in 1954: "We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember
always that accusation is not proof. And that conviction depends on evidence and due
process of law." This episode of See It Now aired on 9 March 1954 during the Army
hearings.
The trailer to Good Night, and Good Luck also gives you some sense of the scene.
Red Scare in the Pacific Northwest
The anti-Communist hysteria (often called the "Red Scare") infected the Pacific
Northwest as well and, as was true in the rest of the country, the Red Scare began in
the Pacific Northwest before McCarthy. In Washington State, a local Red-baiter was
state representative from Spokane Albert Canwell. During the 1947 legislature, Canwell
introduced a resolution to create a committee with broad powers to investigate
"organizations whose membership includes communists" and beginning in 1948 and
proceeding for two years Canwell directed those hearings as chair of that state
legislative committee and heard charges about “Communist conspirators” in Washington
presaging the witch hunts of the early 1950s by Senator Joseph McCarthy. One result of
those hearings was the firing of professors at the University of Washington.
Again in the Pacific Northwest, the Red Scare lingered into the early 1960s as John
Goldmark’s political career was ruined by false accusations that he was a Communist.
John Goldmark's son Peter ran as the Democratic Party candidate for the House and
lost to Cathy McMorris (now Cathy McMorris Rodgers) in Fall 2006. He was elected
Washington State's Public Lands Commissioner in 2008.
If you are interested in learning more about those firings, visit the curriculum project
available at the University of Washington called "The Cold War and Red Scare in
Washington State."
© 2009, rev. 2011 Susan Vetter
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