Case Study: The Red Scare
In this study students will:
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Investigate the depictions of Communism in US media
Engage in historiographic study of primary artifacts
Analyze various forms of media from the era
Evaluate US strategies to combat the spread of
Communism
DUE: 4/16/2015
Introduction: The Cold War and the “Red Scare”
Soon after the defeat of Nazi Germany the world saw a new challenge
grow; the ideological dispute between the democratic and capitalistic
west and the communist Union of Soviet Socialist States (USSR aka The
Soviet Union). The United States felt threatened by the ever expanding
Soviets. To defeat Hitler the USSR built an army of over 12 million soldiers
and they had successfully reconquered and occupied the Eastern
European territories that the once great Russian Empire had lost. The
worry was that the USSR had designs on the west and dreamt of a
Communist Europe and, after that, a Communist world.
The United States flexed its might at the end of World War II with its use
of the atomic bomb against Japan. Immediately after World War II the
United States was the only country in the world known to have
successfully built, tested, and used an atomic weapon. In September of
1949 however, the United States and the other countries of the
democratic west shuddered when the Soviet Union released footage of
their own successful nuclear bomb test. One month later Mao Zedong’s
Communist forces won complete control of the Chinese mainland and
formally ally itself with the Soviet Union.
Communism was indeed spreading, and the West’s fear of a Communist
planet (as well as the Communist fear of destruction at the hands
of the Capitalists) fueled a decades-long conflict known as “The
Cold War.”
During the Cold war anxiety about the Soviet Union consumed the
United States. Movies, books, and television programs portrayed
the Soviet Union as a global menace and the threat of nuclear
extermination was ever present as both countries greatly
expanded their nuclear arsenals. Whatever one wishes to call it:
concern, fear, paranoia, manifested itself in the culture and policies
of the day.
In the space below respond to the following prompt:
Consider the posters above, as well as the evidence from the previous page and the following one. What
emotions do these pieces of propaganda hope to elicit? Put these posters in their historical context, what do
they say about America at the time?
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Part 1: The Rosenbergs
In the summer of 1949, the FBI learned that the secret of the
construction of the atom bomb had been stolen and turned
over to a foreign power. Through aBritish investigation the
United States uncovered the name of the USSR’s American
contact, Harry Gold, a Philadelphia chemist. On May 22, 1950,
Gold confessed his espionage activity to the FBI. The
investigation of Gold’s admissions led to the identification of
David Greenglass, a U.S. Army enlisted man and Soviet agent,
who had been assigned by the Army to Los Alamos, New
Mexico in 1944 and 1945. Gold stated that he had picked up
espionage material from Greenglass during June 1945 on
instructions of “John,” his Soviet principal. “John” was subsequently identified as Anatoli Yakovlev, former Soviet viceconsul in New York City, who left the United States in December 1946. Interrogation of Greenglass and his wife, Ruth,
resulted in admissions of espionage activity under the instructions of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, brother-in -law and
sister, respectively, of David Greenglass
Investigations showed that Julius and Ethel became devoted communists between 1932 and 1935, after which they
maintained that nothing was more important than the communist cause. Information obtained in March 1944
reflected that Julius Rosenberg was a member of the Communist Party. On June 17, 1950, Julius Rosenberg was
arrested on suspicion of espionage after having been named by Sgt. Greenglass for passing secret information to the
USSR through a courier, Gold. On August 11, 1950, Ethel was arrested.
The trial against the Rosenbergs began on March 6, 1951. The prosecution's primary witness, David Greenglass, stated
that Ethel, provided him with typed notes containing U.S. nuclear secrets, and these were later turned over to Gold,
who would then turn them over to Yakovlev in New York City. Both Rosenbergs asserted their right under the Fifth
Amendment not to incriminate themselves whenever asked about their involvement in the Communist Party of with
its members. Though they vehemently denied the charges of espionage. The Rosenbergs were found guilty of
espionage and both were sentenced to death.
1) What were the Rosenbergs charged with and found guilty of?
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2) RESEARCH: What does it mean to “plead the fifth amendment?”
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3) How might the climate of the “red scare,” have influenced their trial?
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4) How might their arrest and the discovery of the dealing of atomic secrets contributed to the “red
scare?”______________________________________________________________________________________
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Part 2: Film Study: The Twilight Zone – “The
Shelter”
One of TV’s greatest, most influential, series was “The Twilight
Zone.” Created by writer, and host, Rod Serling the 30 minute
anthology show mixed metaphor with horror, science-fiction,
and the supernatural. Broadcast at the height of Cold War
tensions Serling and the writers attempted to capture the mood
of the nation.
Assignment: got to Mr. Baker’s page on BPI.edu and
watch the episode “The Shelter,” and answer the
questions below.
"When I get my shelter finished, I'm going to mount a machine gun at the hatch to keep the neighbors
out if the bomb falls. I'm deadly serious about this. If the stupid American public will not do what they
have to to save themselves, I'm not going to run the risk of not being able to use the shelter I've taken
the trouble to provide to save my own family."
-Unknown suburban Chicago resident. Published in Time Magazine Aug. 18, 1961 “Religion: Gun thy
Neighbor?”
5) Briefly summarize the episode
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6) What was the “moral” of the story announced by Serling at the very end of the episode?
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7) What critique of Cold War society is the Twilight Zone making?
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8) Consider the quote in the box above as well as the end of the episode - what did the fear of the Soviet attack
risk doing to American communities?
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Part 3: This Godless Communism – (Go to BPI.edu to read larger versions of the complete comic)
9) How is communism depicted in the pages above? Use details and examples to support your answer.
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"From this day forward, the millions
of our school children will daily
proclaim in every city and town,
every village and rural school house,
the dedication of our nation and our
people to the Almighty.... In this way
we are reaffirming the
transcendence of religious faith in
America's heritage and future; in this
way we shall constantly strengthen
those spiritual weapons which
forever will be our country's most
powerful resource, in peace or in
war."
In the early 1950’s the United States made two legislative decisions. The
Congress passed, and President Eisenhower signed into law, the addition
of the phrase “In God We Trust” to all paper currency (Public Law 84851) and the phrase “Under God” was added to the Pledge of Allegiance
(Public Law 83-396).
-President Eisenhower, on the
passing of Public Law 83-396
10) According to the comic, what is the Soviet Union’s stance on religion?
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11) RESEARCH: Is this accurate or a bit exaggerated?
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12) The United States passed laws affirming the country’s belief in “the almighty.” Given the context of the Cold
War, why would the United States do this?
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13) What does President Eisenhower think will be the impact of these laws on American society?
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Part 4: HUAC
The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) was created in 1938 to investigate alleged disloyalty
and subversive activities on the part of private citizens, public employees, and those organizations suspected
of having Communist ties. In the postwar atmosphere of fear and contempt for the Soviet Union, at which
time HUAC's activities commanded broad popular support and consistently attracted major headlines.
Through its power to subpoena witness and hold people in contempt of Congress, HUAC (led by Senator
Joseph McCarthy as Chairman) often pressured witnesses to surrender names and other information that
could lead to the apprehension of Communists and Communist sympathizers. Committee members often
branded witnesses as "red" if they refused to comply or hesitated in answering committee questions. HUAC
went after a variety of targets in government, but they
famously went after entertainers, actors, directors and
writers in Hollywood. Based on the fear that communist
agents were using TV and film as a way to infiltrate
American culture with Communist propaganda. People
found to be communist sympathizers were often
“blacklisted,” and were therefore unable to find work in
their fields. Many, however stood firm against the
questioning.
Below is the transcript of African-American actor and
activist Paul Robeson when he was called before HUAC
(Chairman McCarthy and other Senators) to answer the
claim he had communist sympathies….
Mr. ARENS: Are you now a member of the
Communist Party?
Robeson, actor and civil rights activist (left)
Senator McCarthy (right)
Mr. ROBESON: Would you like to come to the
ballot box when I vote and take out the ballot and
see?
Mr. ROBESON: Oh please, please, please.
Mr. SCHERER: Please answer, will you, Mr.
Robeson?
Mr. ARENS: Mr. Chairman, I respectfully suggest
that the witness be ordered and directed to
answer that question.
Mr. ROBESON: What is the Communist Party?
What do you mean by that?
THE CHAIRMAN: You are directed to answer the
question.
Mr. SCHERER: I ask that you direct the witness to
answer the question.
(The witness consulted with his counsel.)
Mr. ROBESON: What do you mean by the
Communist Party? As far as I know it is a legal
party like the Republican Party and the
Democratic Party. Do you mean a party of people
who have sacrificed for my people, and for all
Americans and workers, that they can live in
dignity? Do you mean that party?
Mr. ARENS: Are you now a member of the
Communist Party?
Mr. ROBESON: I stand upon the Fifth Amendment
of the American Constitution.
Mr. ARENS: Do you mean you invoke the Fifth
Amendment?
Mr. ROBESON: I invoke the Fifth Amendment.
…
Mr. ROBESON: Gentlemen, in the first place,
wherever I have been in the world, Scandinavia,
England, and many places, the first to die in the
struggle against Fascism were the Communists
and I laid many wreaths upon graves of
Communists. It is not criminal, and the Fifth
Amendment has nothing to do with criminality.
The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Warren,
has been very clear on that in many speeches,
that the Fifth Amendment does not have anything
to do with the inference of criminality. I invoke
the Fifth Amendment.
Mr. ARENS: Have you ever been known under the
name of “John Thomas”?
Mr. ARENS: I put it to you as a fact, and ask you
to affirm or deny the fact, that your Communist
Party name was “John Thomas.”
Mr. ROBESON: I invoke the Fifth Amendment.
This is really ridiculous….The other reason that I
am here today, again from the State Department
and from the court record of the court of appeals,
is that when I am abroad I speak out against the
injustices against the Negro people of this land. I
sent a message to the Bandung Conference and
so forth. That is why I am here. This is the basis,
and I am not being tried for whether I am a
Communist, I am being tried for fighting for the
rights of my people, who are still second-class
citizens in this United States of America. My
mother was born in your state, Mr. Walter, and
my mother was a Quaker, and my ancestors in
the time of Washington baked bread for George
Washington’s troops when they crossed the
Delaware, and my own father was a slave. I stand
here struggling for the rights of my people to be
full citizens in this country. And they are not.
They are not in Mississippi. And they are not in
Montgomery, Alabama. And they are not in
Washington. They are nowhere, and that is why I
am here today. You want to shut up every Negro
who has the courage to stand up and fight for the
rights of his people, for the rights of workers, and
I have been on many a picket line for the
steelworkers too. And that is why I am here
today. . . .
14) Does the United States have the duty to investigate possible threats to the country, even if it means
investigating its own citizens?
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15) RESEARCH: Is it legal to be a member of the Communist party according to the Bill of Rights?
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16) Why would someone “plead the fifth,” even if they were innocent?
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17) What does Robeson accuse is the real reason he was brought before HUAC?
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18) Why might some Americans, at the time, consider leaders of the Civil Rights movement and Communist
agents one in the same?
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Part 5: Radio Free Europe
Radio Free Europe was founded by the United
States State Department in 1950. Headquartered
in Munich its intention was to broadcast “free”
radio into countries behind the Iron Curtain where
information is limited and news was controlled. In
the early years it was primarily a political tool
broadcasting anti-Communist propaganda into
Communist controlled countries, but the station
soon evolved into something different.
After 1953 the station took on the role of
“surrogate” broadcaster. Radio Free Europe would
be the radio station that the countries behind the
Iron Curtain could not get from the Soviet Union.
RFE programs focused on local news, science,
international relations, religion, sports and
western music. Many western artists were banned
in the Soviet Union but RFE was a way for the
citizens under the control of the Soviet Union to hear, and be influence by the culture of The West.
RFE also became a central voice to artists, and other citizens, who fled Soviet controlled countries to tell their
stories. RFE gave a mass audience to the voice of revolutionaries and political dissidents.
19) What was the stated goal of Radio Free Europe?
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20) How does the broadcast of seemingly everyday things like news, sports, and western music and culture
behind the iron curtain have any impact on the people living under Soviet control?
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21) Some argue that RFE’s lasting legacy is their role as giving a voice to the exiled and the refugees that
escaped Soviet controlled lands. Why giving their voice such a platform sop important in the “battle” for
the minds of people behind the iron curtain?
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Part 6: Eisenhower’s Farwell Address – annotate and use the reading guide to analyze
…We now stand ten years past the midpoint of a century that has witnessed four major wars among
great nations. Three of these involved our own country. Despite these holocausts, America is today
the strongest, the most influential, and most productive nation in the world. Understandably proud of
this pre-eminence, we yet realize that America's leadership and prestige depend, not merely upon our
unmatched material progress, riches, and military strength, but on how we use our power in the
interests of world peace and human betterment.
Throughout America's adventure in free government, our basic purposes have been to keep the
peace, to foster progress in human achievement, and to enhance liberty, dignity, and integrity among
peoples and among nations. To strive for less would be unworthy of a free and religious people. Any
failure traceable to arrogance, or our lack of comprehension, or readiness to sacrifice would inflict
upon us grievous hurt, both at home and abroad…
…Progress toward these noble goals is persistently threatened by the conflict now engulfing the world.
It commands our whole attention, absorbs our very beings. We face a hostile ideology global in scope,
atheistic in character, ruthless in purpose, and [insidious] in method. Unhappily, the danger it poses
promises to be of indefinite duration. To meet it successfully, there is called for, not so much the
emotional and transitory sacrifices of crisis, but rather those which enable us to carry forward
steadily, surely, and without complaint the burdens of a prolonged and complex struggle with liberty
the stake. Only thus shall we remain, despite every provocation, on our charted course toward
permanent peace and human betterment.
But each proposal must be weighed in the light of a broader consideration: the need to maintain
balance in and among national programs, balance between the private and the public economy,
balance between the cost and hoped for advantages, balance between the clearly necessary and the
comfortably desirable, balance between our essential requirements as a nation and the duties
imposed by the nation upon the individual, balance between actions of the moment and the national
welfare of the future…
…We have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added to
this, three and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We
annually spend on military security alone more than the net income of all United States cooperations - corporations…
…In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence,
whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise
of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger
our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and
knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery
of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together…
…It is the task of statesmanship to mold, to balance, and to integrate these and other forces, new and
old, within the principles of our democratic system -- ever aiming toward the supreme goals of our
free society.
Another factor in maintaining balance involves the element of time. As we peer into society's future,
we -- you and I, and our government -- must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering for
our own ease and convenience the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material
assets of our grandchildren without risking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We
want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of
tomorrow…
Eisenhower’s Farewell Address – Guided Notes
Summarize the message of each paragraph in the boxes below. To the right, list any key-terms and phrases you
feel are important
Key Terms
First Paragraph
Key Terms
Paragraphs two and three
Key Terms
Paragraphs four and five
Key Terms
Closing paragraphs
Part II, Summarizing
What is the overall message of Eisenhower’s address?
What is the Military Industrial Complex?
How does President Eisenhower describe the Soviet Union and Communism?
What warning is he giving to the country?
Case Study: The Red Scare
The United States and the Soviet Union were locked in an ideological battle known as the Cold War. The threat
of nuclear annihilation hung in the air and the overwhelming fear that came with it manifested itself in both
policy and popular culture. Yes the Soviet Union WAS trying to spread Communism around the globe, and yes
the United States WAS trying to undermine the Soviet Union. As the 1950’s came to a close President
Eisenhower left the United States with a warning:
Assignment: Answer the following prompt in a formal five paragraph essay –
During the Cold War many in the US saw
Communists as the ultimate enemy and
source of fear in the culture. Consider the list
to the right, are they the “new communists”
in modern America today? What was
President Eisenhower’s warning to American
culture as he left office? Should modern
America abide by that warning today?
o
o
o
o
o
International terrorists
Immigrants
Teen African American
Boys
LGBT persons
0ther: ____________
Your Essay should include:
-An introductory paragraph with a clear thesis statement that identifies who you
feel are the “new communists” in American culture today.
-TWO body paragraphs that compare one aspect of the red scare and a analytical
comparison to the way modern American culture depicts the “new communists”
-A paragraph that outlines what President Eisenhower’s warning to America was
at the close of his Presidency, and analysis stating if that warning is still valid
today.
-A closing paragraph that effectively summarizes your thoughts on the prompt
and modern American culture.
-All essays should be typed, double-spaced, be properly cited in MLA format and
include a works cited page in proper MLA format
ESSAY AND CASE STUDY DUE DATE: 4/16