What information did McCarthy cite to show that America was losing the war against Communism? A special subcommittee investigated McCarthy's charges and rejected them as a fraud and a hoax, but the outbreak of the Korean War and the highly publicized conviction of Alger Hiss lent credibility to the charges. But Joe McCarthy knew the uncompromising business of battle; he had the Silver Star for leading his company up a savagely contested hill on Saipan, and his men called him the best damned officer in the Marine Corps.[3]. Each group will be responsible for reading a particular section of the hearing transcripts and answering a set of questions designed to guide their reading: Group #1: Testimony of Whittaker Chambers, August 3, 7, and 25, 1948; excerpts are available on pages 9-15 of the Text Document, along with a worksheet that includes the following questions: Group #2: Testimony of Alger Hiss, August 5, 16, and 25, 1948; excerpts are available on pages 1622 of the Text Document, along with a worksheet that includes the following questions: Group #3: The Hiss-Chambers Hearings, August 17 and 25, 1948; excerpts are available on pages 2329 of the Text Document, along with a worksheet that includes the following questions: To begin, have each student read his or her group's reading, and answer the relevant questions, as homework. The Venona transcripts would have no doubt been a bombshell had they been released at the time; however, they were not, and they therefore played no role in the most headline-grabbing trial of 1951. McCarthy is in his eighth House term, serving as the U.S. representative for California's 22nd . The activity asks them to consider whether, in this circumstance, they would do as the committee requested and "name names.". EDSITEment is a project of theNational Endowment for the Humanities, The House Un-American Activities Committee, recently-declassified FBI memoranda regarding the Venona Project, a worksheet, found on page 13 of the Text Document, Federal Bureau of InvestigationFreedom of Information Privacy Act, Harry S. Truman, Executive Order 9835, March 21, 1947, Statement by the President on the Government's Loyalty Program, November 14, 1947, Chester E. Holifield (D-CA), Speech on Truman's Loyalty Program, June 27, 1947, Lesson 2: The House Un-American Activities Committee, Lesson 3: The Rise and Fall of Joseph McCarthy. His investigative tactics . To do so they should read an excerpt from House Resolution 282, which Congress passed in May 1938. What 1957 event raised fears that the United States had fallen behind the Soviets in science and education? Contact | Analyze the motives behind McCarthy's accusations and the political and cultural significance of the hearing in the U.S. Among the most famous of the committee's critics was the influential political cartoonist "Herblock." Why or why not? (Students may need more guidance to answer this. Analyze the impact of constitutions, laws, treaties, and international agreements on the maintenance of national and international order. McCarthy Today: If McCarthy were to time travel to today, what issue(s) might he respond to in a similar fashion? Civil rights legislation and an expanded federal role in public education. Sample issues are available at the Authentic History Center, which is accessible via the EDSITEment-reviewed site Teaching American History. Why? Teachers who wish to spend more time on this subject may want to have their students read an excerpt from that speech, which McCarthy made in June 1951. Louis B. Mayer. To save class time, the readings might be assigned as homework. An asterisk has been placed next to those that are of particular importance, since the names of these individuals will come up in the next activity on the Rosenberg Trial, as well as in subsequent lessons in this unit: After reading all these materials students will complete a worksheet, found on page 13 of the Text Document, with the following questions. Why, according to the author of the memo, might it be unwise politically to try to use Venona information as trial evidence? A painful chapter in America's history had at last come to its close. Then in class the following day have the students meet in their groups to compare their answers. Congress responded in 1934 by forming a Special Committee on Un-American Activities, which held hearings, issued a report, and quietly disbanded in 1935. For more information on the Rosenberg Trial, an excellent resource is "The Trial of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg," part of the site "Famous Trials", available via the EDSITEment-reviewed resource History Matters. One particularly noteworthy instance of this involved Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, who were convicted in 1951 of passing information about the atomic bomb to the Kremlin. His wife, Anita, died in 1978. Position Ad:Using photographs, excerpts from speeches, quotes from those involved with HUAC and the federal government, and other perspectives, create a short video that presents a position on the CQ:Did McCarthy strengthenor weakenanticommunism efforts in postwar America? After reading them the class will be divided into two groups to debate the following proposition: "Eisenhower should have spoken out against McCarthy earlier than he did.". Do you believe that the verdict was just? His accusations did not remain limited to the State Department. It stands out as a classic example of how McCarthy was able to twist a policy disagreement into a charge of treason. Under what circumstances did Chambers claim he knew Hiss? McCarthy joined the 4th Marine Division shortly thereafter, and went overseas in January 1944. After completing this lesson, students should be able to write brief (1-2 paragraph) essays answering the following questions: Revelations in 1946 that Soviet agents had penetrated the federal government was a goldmine for the Republicans, who had been out of power since 1932, and it helped them win majorities in both houses of Congress in the 1946 midterm elections. Senator Joseph McCarthy begins hearings investigating the United States Army, which he charges with being "soft" on communism. One question that might be asked is whether his words as spoken sound more convincing than they appear in print. By what code names was your subject also known? After completing this lesson, students should be able to respond tothe following questions: Mock Senate Hearing: A simulation that recreates the McCarthy hearings with students interpreting primary sources in order to play the role of those who testified, as well as news reporters, citizens who have read newspapers or watched hearings on television, Presidents Truman and Eisenhower, actors and writers accused of being communists, and other perspectives to illustrate the debate and the reach of the hearings. These new groups will compare their paragraphs, and then use them to create an essay explaining McCarthy's downfall in 1954. 2. Some, like Charlie Chaplin, left the country; some screenwriters continued to work under false names. While these memos were written in the 1950s, they are describing work that had been going on since 1948, when the Soviet code was first broken. 4. Perhaps, they wondered, the Soviet strategy might not be to try to conquer the world through traditional military power, but rather by boring from within. 1 Answer Sim W. Mar 25, 2017 He fuelled the Red Scare Explanation: Joseph McCarthy had a major impact by creating an atmosphere of hysteria and paranoia in the early fifties. NCSS.D2.His.5.9-12. Students might be asked to analyze these cartoons and the image that they portray of anticommunists. Joseph McCarthy's "list," 1950. In an effort to prevent the GOP from exploiting this issue any further Truman in March 1947 issued Executive Order 9835, which authorized investigations into the political activities of federal employees. Soviet archives unearthed many years later backed up these allegations. These documents might be used for an in-class debate on whether or not the program was warranted. What was their purpose in issuing these statements? A freshman senator from Wisconsin, Joseph R. McCarthy, shocked the country in 1950 when he claimed to possess evidence that significant numbers of communists continued to hold positions of influence in the State Department. Why did Montgomery, Alabama, police arrest Rosa Parks on December 1, 1955? Joseph McCarthy claimed that he had identified "205 card-carrying" members of the Communist party working within the U.S. State Department. The documents all come from the Eisenhower Presidential Library, accessible via the EDSITEment-reviewed Digital Classroom, while the cartoons come from Herblock's History, accessible via the Library of Congress. The hunt for Communists in the United States clearly reached the point of hysteria by the early 1950s, but what is often overlooked is that it had its origins in a very real phenomenon. How did the House Un-American Activities Committee go about defining and investigating such activities? Superior officers sometimes found his manner abrasive, but unlike many Irishmen, he wasn't talkative. And how did it happen? What was the basis for Chambers's claim that Hiss was a communist? In February 1950, McCarthy, a Republican senator from Wisconsin, launched a massive campaign against alleged Communists and Soviet agents working for, and perhaps spying . Among these was Eisenhower himself, who had refused even to defend his former Army colleague George C. Marshall when McCarthy suggested that he was a subversive. Why was Congressmen Mundt so interested in Hiss? The Wisconsin Republican claimed to have a list of known Communists still working in the Department of State. Were Joseph McCarthy's accusations justified? The charges, Tydings concluded, were without foundation, but few were paying attention. In 1944, he was awarded the Silver Star for heroism as a rifle company commander on Saipan. Finally, teachers should lead an in-class discussion regarding the nature of Soviet espionage in the United States, and the methods that were used to identify and prosecute spies. Addressing the Republican Women's Club of Wheeling, West Virginia, he announced that he had evidence that in spite of the Truman administration's efforts to eliminate disloyal elements from government service, 205 members of the Communist Party continued to work for the State Department. The activities of HUAC generated a great deal of criticism. In the short term at least, Republican dominance in Washington gave McCarthy new prestige and power. See answer (1) Best Answer Copy He made suspected communists get interviewed. Read More on This Topic It was on Feb. 9, 1950, that McCarthy who had dubbed himself "Tailgunner Joe" for acts of World War II bravery he did not in fact commit told a crowd of 275 at the Ohio County Republican Women's Club that the U.S. State Department was "thoroughly infested with communists" and brandished . After reading their assigned documents, each student should write a paragraph describing the events detailed in them, and explaining how they might have contributed to McCarthy's downfall. Locate and bookmark suggested materials and links from EDSITEment-reviewed websites used in this lesson. In the first activity students will learn about the FBI's ongoing investigation of suspected Soviet agents in the United States. There had been a growing concern about the spread . Senator Joseph McCarthy is mostly remembered for leading investigations of communist infiltration into the U.S. State Department. ", "They Want to Muzzle Public Opinion": John Howard Lawson's Warning to the American Public, "The World Was at Stake": Three "Friendly" HUAC Hollywood Witnesses Assess Pro-Soviet Wartime Films, "A Damaging Impression of Hollywood Has Spread": Movie "Czar" Eric Johnston Testifies before HUAC, "We Must Keep the Labor Unions Clean": "Friendly" HUAC Witnesses Ronald Reagan and Walt Disney Blame Hollywood Labor Conflicts on Communist Infiltration, John Howard Lawson testifies before HUAC, October 29, 1947, News Report on the Blacklisting of the Hollywood Ten, November 25, 1947, Edward R. Murrow on the Alger Hiss Trial, June 2, 1949, Jazz Beyond Borders: Jazz Appreciation Month 2019, Julius Rosenberg was arrested for passing atomic secrets to the Soviet Union, "What is McCarthyism? Senator Joseph McCarthy. As a counterpoint students might be interested in seeing a classic example of anticommunism in American popular cultureTreasure Chest, a monthly comic book published by the Catholic Guild. Republican control of Congress in 1953 and 1954 gave McCarthy access to more power than ever, but increasingly he became a liability both to his party and to Dwight Eisenhower's administration. Why were the Rosenbergs convicted of espionage? On February 20, 1937, McCarthy first enlisted in the Marine Corps in Chicago, and served for four years. ", Draft page, "Sixth Draft" of Eisenhower speech given on October 3, 1952 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on "Communism and Freedom. [4], I would hope and pray there never be another Medal of Honor issued, McCarthy remarked in a 1992 interview. The Learning Page at the American Memory Project of the Library of Congress includes a set of such activities. The opening in the 1990s of the archives of the former Soviet Union showed that the penetration of American institutions was, indeed, significant, and was being directed locally by the Communist Party of the United States. In her 1963 book The Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan argued that, The idealization of domesticity pressured women to seek fufillment in serving others. Joseph Raymond McCarthy (November 14, 1908 - May 2, 1957) was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Brief excerpts of the following may be found on pages 59 of the Text Document. A member of the Republican Party, he served as House Majority Leader under speakers John Boehner and Paul Ryan from 2014 to 2019. ", Excerpts from Speech of Joseph McCarthy, Wheeling, West Virginia, February 9, 1950, Excerpt from President Truman's News Conference at Key West, March 30, 1950, "National Suicide": Margaret Chase Smith and Six Republican Senators Speak out against Joseph McCarthy's Attack on "Individual Freedom", worksheet on pages 12 of the Text Document, "You Mean I'm Supposed to Stand on That? Senator Joseph McCarthy from Wisconsin became famous in the 1950s because he claimed that there were communists in our government. The resulting trial, conviction, and death sentence of this young, middle-class couple divided the nation, and kept the issue of Soviet espionage before the American public for years to come. This can be adapted to address any time between the McCarthy hearings and today. "haven from over taxation" B. While he offered little proof, the claims gained the Senator great notoriety. Another useful resource is the Educator Resourcesof the National Archives, which features a set of Document Analysis Worksheets. To what extent were the criticism againstMcCarthy and Trumanjustified? Red Scare was the period of threat of communism In the United States. They did so quite independently of McCarthy. Study with Quizlet and memorize flashcards containing terms like According to Glass, increasing taxes for education did not come easily because, since the 1930s Nevada had advertised itself as a A. Divide the class into three groups, each of which will examine a set of readings related to one aspect of McCarthy's decline and fall. Meanwhile, the Army's chief counsel, Joseph N. Welch, finally shamed him with the famous words, "Have you no sense of decency, sir?" Give them about ten or fifteen minutes to do so, then ask them what they have come up with. If their spies had been able to infiltrate some of the highest levels of the federal government, where else might they be? Now it was McCarthy himself who was on the hot seat, and in the resulting Army-McCarthy Hearings, broadcast on nationwide television, the Wisconsin Senator came across as a common bully. What was so politically explosive about the Hiss case? In 1948 Nixon and Karl E. Mundt sponsored legislation that would mandate the government registration of all Communist Party USA members. Why or why not? Then, after Republicans won majorities in both houses of Congress in the 1946 elections, the committee began to examine federal employees who were allegedly attracted to communism, and who had promoted policies favorable to the Soviet Union. However, because the FBI was unwilling to release this information at the time (it seems as though not even President Truman was aware of it), it was never used to prosecute the individuals involved. NCSS.D2.Civ.3.9-12. He was referring to Alger Hiss, a top-level State Department official who had recently been convicted of perjury after a sensational investigation into his subversive pro-Soviet activities. It might be useful to have students read Nixon's recollections of the hearingsan excerpt from his 1962 book Six Crises and his unguarded comments on the subject when he was president, both of which may be found at the Famous Trials site. Ayn Rand NCSS.D4.1.9-12. Jackson, Speechwriter and Special Assistant to the President, December 2, 1953, Diary entry by James C. Hagerty, White House Press Secretary, February 25, 1954, Diary entry by James Hagerty, March 10, 1954, Diary entry by James Hagerty, May 14, 1954, Diary entry by James Hagerty, May 17, 1954, Diary entry by Press Secretary James Hagerty, May 28, 1954, Senate Resolution 301: Censure of Senator Joseph McCarthy (1954), Teaching with Documents: Telegram from Senator Joseph McCarthy to President Harry S. Truman, Michael J. Birkner, "Eisenhower and the Red Menace" (2001), The Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, Notes from the day by C.D. NCSS.D2.His.4.9-12. What is known as "McCarthyism" began on February 9, 1950, when McCarthy, a relatively obscure Republican senator from Wisconsin, announced during a speech in Wheeling, West Virginia, that he. After giving them about fifteen minutes to discuss their conclusions, reshuffle the class into groups of three, with each group made up of one student from each of the original three. McCarthy was born in rural Wisconsin, the fifth of nine children to Irish working-class parents. Teachers who wish to spend more time on the Hiss-Chambers case may wish to have students read Whittaker Chambers' "Letter to my Children," which gives his reason for testifying against Alger Hiss, and his views on the communist menace. Encyclopdia Britannica, Inc. Joseph McCarthy was a junior Republican senator from Wisconsin still in his first term when he delivered the incendiary Lincoln Day speech that rocketed him to political stardom. In 1950 anti-communist hysteria began to emerge in the USA as encouraged by the actions of Senator Joe McCarthy who began accusing high-ranking US officials of being communists or at least selling . 1) On October 5, 1945, President Harry S. Truman presented the Medal of Honor to McCarthy in ceremonies at the White House. It will encourage them to think seriously about the extent of the Soviet espionage network in America, thus setting the stage for a proper understanding of later hearings by the House Un-American Activities Committee and Joseph McCarthy. In addition, some of these agents had been able to penetrate several agencies of the federal governmentespecially the Departments of State and the Treasury, as well as the Office of Strategic Services (the precursor to the Central Intelligence Agency)and in some cases at very high levels. When they are finished, ask students to make a list of activities that they might consider "un-American." The country was on edge after a series of international and domestic events pointing to communist subversion as a serious national security threat. Download the Text Document for this lesson, available here as a PDF. The broadcast is available in audio format at the site Authentic History, which is available via Teaching American History. Under Venona, thousands of communications between Moscow and its agents in the United States during the 1940s had been intercepted and decoded, giving critical insights into the Soviet espionage network and, in many cases, revealing the identities of the spies themselves. Construct arguments using precise and knowledgeable claims, with evidence from multiple sources, while acknowledging counterclaims and evidentiary weaknesses. To conclude the exercise students should read the announcement of the actual verdict. He conducted televised hearings in which he charged that the U.S. army was full of Communists. What organization chose Martin Luther King Jr. to lead its efforts to coordinate local protests against segregation and disfranchisement in 1957? McCarthy sued for two million dollars. First elected as a U.S. His battalion moved, and was supported by the blue beaches. What legal problems might be involved in using Venona information as trial evidence? This file contains excerpted versions of the documents used in the various activities, as well as questions for students to answer. 2. Disgusted, Pres. I hope and pray there's never any more wars.. It is believed that a Seabee heavy weapons platoon provided the fire support he needed that day. A smaller conventional army bolstered by strength in airpower and nuclear weapons, An example of mass-produced affordable housing in the suburbs. Make a list on the board that incorporates their answers. Why did Alger Hiss and Whittaker Chambers appear before HUAC? In particular, McCarthy's accusations against Owen Lattimore, Philip Jessup, and John Stewart Service remain a source of contention. Although McCarthy later changed the number of State Department communists to 57 and again to 81, he succeeded in spreading fear among the public that Soviet operatives had infiltrated the home front to the highest reaches of government. One of the most famous episodes in HUAC's history was its investigation of Hollywood. Through an examination of documents and political cartoons they will study key points in McCarthy's career, with an eye to understanding how his efforts brought American anticommunism to fever pitch, and then into disrepute. Further abridged versions of these transcripts are available in the Text Document. He landed on yellow beach 2 alongside the 23rd Marines. What was the key to President Eisenhower's New Look in foreign policy? Why do you think he chose to portray McCarthy this way? Senator from your state, support or refute his arguments? (For more on Eisenhower's attitude toward McCarthy, see Michael J. Birkner, "Eisenhower and the Red Menace", located at the EDSITEment-reviewed site National Archives Educator Resources.). Both seem to be individuals who seemed to be right more often than not, willin. The Learning Page at the American Memory Project of the Library of Congress includes a set of such activities. For the final activity teachers will stage a reenactment in their classrooms of this trial, using excerpts from the trial transcripts found at the University of Missouri-Kansas City's site "Famous Trials"(accessible via History Matters). In association with that theme, students will determine whether there are some ideas that are so dangerous that even their expression should be limited and whether certain professionsgovernment service, entertainment, education, etc.are so influential that the personal views of people in them should come under public scrutiny. Hisss 1950 conviction came in the wake of major tectonic shifts in the global political landscape. Eric Johnston Answer (1 of 7): Perhaps I'd say that he seems like he was the 1950's version of Michelle Bachman. Individual jurors should be assigned a brief writing project (a good homework activity) in which they write a couple of paragraphs explaining why they voted as they did. (Fig. Others should follow, so that ultimately a large network of agents will be displayed. It passed legislation providing support for students in math, foreign languages, science, and technology. What was Venona, and how was it used to identify Soviet spies in America? Do you find Hiss to be a credible witness? Both of these could then be compared to the actual events. Answer: Joseph McCarthy was a senator from the state of Wisconsin. In 1944, he was awarded the Silver Star for heroism as a rifle company commander on Saipan. Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy charged that communists had infiltrated the U.S. State Department. ", and "Say, Whatever Happened to 'Freedom-from-Fear'?". While this committee was charged with investigating pro-fascist groups, as well as hate organizations like the Ku Klux Klan, Dies chose to focus instead on suspicions that, thanks to the New Deal, members of the Communist Party had managed to infiltrate a number of federal agencies. Analyze the reasons behind McCarthy's downfall in 1954. Use quotes from primary sources to fill in the speech bubbles, caption frames using information grounded in research on the era, and present multiple perspectives before establishing your positionthrough your illustrationin response to the CQ:Did McCarthy strengthenor weakenanticommunism efforts in postwar America? Explain what McCarthy meant when he said "When a great democracy is destroyed, it will not be from enemies from without, but rather because of enemies from within.". Which new civil rights organization chose Martin Luther King Jr. as its leader in January of 1957? In this lesson students will learn about McCarthy's crusade against communism, from his bombshell pronouncements in 1950 to his ultimate censure and disgrace in 1954. Assess the role of media as public informant during and after the McCarthy hearings. Worry about infiltration of the United States by subversive elements first emerged in the 1930s, when it was believed that German agents were spreading Nazi propaganda through the country. It is worth pointing them toward Hiss's long history of service to the Roosevelt administration, and that in 1947 Republicans controlled Congress, and hence HUAC. In the hyper-suspicious atmosphere of the Cold War, the select committee unanimously recommended that joseph mccarthy be censured for his actions in two of the five categories: (1) his refusal to appear before the subcommittee on privileges and elections to answer questions about his personal character, and his general obstruction to the work of the panel during its investigation of him in 1951 The hearings also helped to make a household name of one committee member, a young Republican congressman named Richard M. Nixon, who was particularly zealous in proving that Hiss was a Soviet agent. A number of prominent Hollywood figures, including studio executives, movie stars, and screenwriters, were called to testify in 1947. What led Congressman Mundt to change his mind regarding Hiss? After doing so each of these students will make a five-minute presentation to the class in which they convey the information found in that testimony to the class. The document may be found at the site Famous Trials, accessible via the EDSITEment-reviewed resource History Matters. Do Fossil Fuels Really Come from Fossils? It no doubt contributed in large part to the growing sense of hysteria over communist subversion that swept the country in the late 1940s, and would pave the way for the investigations of Joseph McCarthy. It allowed candidates to appeal directly to voters in their homes, which elevated the importance of politicians' personal attractiveness, The Montgomery bus boycott of 1955-56 persisted until, The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Alabama's state and local laws requiring segregation on buses. Some of these can be clicked on to yield more information about the event.