Fair Deals and Dirty Tricks: Truman, McCarthy, and the Politics of Paranoia Reform Revolt and Reaction Lecture Five: Term 1 Week 7
Dec 21, 2015
Fair Deals and Dirty Tricks: Truman, McCarthy, and the Politics of Paranoia
Reform Revolt and ReactionLecture Five: Term 1 Week 7
The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)
• First established in 1938 to investigate “subversive and un-American propaganda”
• From 1947 targeted Hollywood and universities
• The “Hollywood Ten”
Alger Hiss
• Accused of being a spy by Whittaker Chambers (1948)
• Convicted of perjury Jan 1950
• Prosecution led by Richard Nixon
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
• Arrested 1950 for conspiracy to pass atomic secrets to the Soviet Union
• Trial 1951• Executed 1953 for
treason• VENONA project
Senator Joseph McCarthy
• Republican from Wisconsin
• 9 Feb 1950 Wheeling, West Virginia Speech
• Created atmosphere of fear and paranoia
• Army-McCarthy hearings (1954)