How fear fueled persecution in the red scare in the 1950s

The red scare in the 1950s was a moral panic provoked by fear of left-wing ideologies, especially communism and socialism; the Second Red Scare, immediately after World War II, centered on perceived communist infiltration or subversion of American society and the federal government, with senator Joseph McCarthy playing a key role in disseminating those fears from 1950.

2 articles, 1 video, 1 book · about 43 min of reading and viewing

The reading path

1. Read
   the red scare in the 1950s · Wikipedia · 25 min read

   During the red scare in the 1950s, President Harry S. Truman's March 1947 Executive Order 9835 created political-loyalty review boards to determine federal employees' "Americanism" and required all federal employees to take an oath of loyalty to the United States government. The program led to more than 2,700 dismissals and 12,000 resignations from the years 1947 to 1956. Senator Joseph McCarthy lost credibility in the eyes of the American public after accusing the army, including war heroes, and the Army-McCarthy Hearings were held in the summer of 1954. McCarthy was formally censured by his colleagues in Congress, and the hearings he led came to a close.

2. Read
   

   Newly Declassified Documents Reveal the Untold Stories of the Red Scare, a Hunt for Communists in Postwar America · Smithsonian Science · 12 min read

   The Red Scare upended the lives of thousands of innocent Americans between roughly 1947 and 1954, as fear of communist intrigue turned suspicion into a politically motivated witch hunt. Historian and journalist Clay Risen says people risked being fired or called before a congressional committee over suspected communist ties.

3. Watch
   

   What is McCarthyism? And how did it happen? - Ellen Schrecker · YouTube · 6 min watch

   In the 1950s, thousands of individuals were aggressively investigated and questioned before government panels as part of a campaign to expose suspected Communists. Ellen Schrecker traces the history of McCarthyism, a phenomenon that destroyed lives and careers.

4. Book
   

   The Crucible · Bookshop.org

   The Crucible by Arthur Miller portrays a community engulfed by hysteria and shows how ruthless prosecutors and neighbors testifying against one another illuminate the destructive power of socially sanctioned violence. Miller argues that the 1953 drama mirrors the anti-communist hysteria inspired by Senator Joseph McCarthy's "witch-hunts" in the United States.

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