Why
had the USA developed a fear of communism by 1950?
America and the Soviet Union emerged as the world's two
Superpowers after the Second World War. America had huge resources, manpower and
wealth - much more so than any of the other countries in Western Europe. The
same was true of the Soviet Union - they were much more powerful than the
countries they occupied in Eastern Europe after World War II. This division of
Europe into West and East was dubbed the 'Iron Curtain' in a speech by Winston
Churchill in 1946.
"From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste
in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the Continent.
Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and
Eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest
and Sofia; all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what
I must call the Soviet sphere, and all are subject, in one form or another,
not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and in some cases increasing
measure of control from Moscow."
- Winston Churchill 1946. 'Iron Curtain'
Speech at Fulton Missouri.
Both sides feared a further advance beyond the Iron Curtain by the other. As
Churchill talked of his view of the Iron Curtain in his speech, he also
confirmed that the wartime alliance between America and the USSR was dead -
replaced by hostility between the two in European and world affairs.
In 1945, Franklin Roosevelt died of a brain hemorrhage and Harry S. Truman
assumed the presidency. He was keen to stop Soviet expansion around the world
and at home. He took measures to ensure that communists could not infiltrate
the workings of American life.
Harry
S. Truman
1947 - Truman approves the 'Federal employee Loyalty Programme' (FELP)
This vetted and sacked anyone suspected of being a communist and other
'traitors'
1947 -The Senate's 'House of Un-American Activities Committee' (HUAAC)
investigated communist infiltration in all walks of life, especially
Hollywood. Many actors were 'blacklisted', making it almost impossible for
them to find work. They were informed upon by other actors (among them future
president Ronald Reagan) who were keen to make sure that they were not accused
of being a communist.
Ronald
Reagan acted as an informer in the 1940's
1948 - The Soviet Union un-successfully blockaded West Berlin and
appeared to be planning an attack on Western Europe
1948 - Alger Hiss - a former official in the US State Department (who
might have had access to important documents on American policy toward the
Soviet Union), was falsely accused of copying and passing documents to the
Soviet Union. Despite a lack of evidence he spent five years in jail.
1949 - Communists took power in China and the Soviet Union exploded
it's first atomic bomb. The US monopoly on atomic weapons was over and their
important ally China had fallen to Mao's communists.
McCarthy's
accusations ruined many reputations
1950 - Senator Joseph McCarthy began to stir up US anti-communist
fears.
1950 - Communist North Korea invades democratic South Korea. Two
scientists - Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were convicted of passing nuclear
secrets to the Soviet Union. They were executed in 1953.
