???! Spies ???!?!?!?!? Fear of Communist- “Red Scare”

Communists everywhere? House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) Questioned suspected “commies” under oath Talk and point fingers or be ruined! “Are you or have you ever been a member of the Communist party?” Hollywood 10 – blacklisted & jailed for 1 year

GUILTY! Jules and Ethel Rosenberg Alger Hiss Americans who provided USSR with atomic secrets executed for treason in 1953 Alger Hiss State Dept official imprisoned for espionage

Senator Joseph McCarthy- (1950s) recklessly accused many government officials and citizens of being communist. McCarthyism- making false accusations based on rumor or guilt by association. Hiss and Rosenberg convictions increased Red Scare fear.

Attacked and smeared the names of hundreds of government officials McCarthy went too far and accused military of being communists Eventually censured by Senate in 1954 Died in office (1957)

Cold War: Things get serious 1949 - Soviet Union successfully explodes an atomic bomb 1952 US tests 1st Hydrogen Bomb *Much more powerful than the Atomic Bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki *Precision Missile Launch (BOTH U.S. and Soviet Union hold capability to destroy each other)

HydrogenBomb New “H” bomb more powerful Hiroshima bomb killed over 140,000 people = 13 kilotons. =.013 megatons Hydrogen bomb has 10 -100 megatons. All explosions WW II= 2 megatons = 20%  of 1 H bomb. 1961 USSR Tsar bomb detonated – 50+ megatons

US H-bomb test Nagasaki

Nuclear Arms Race

M.A.D. – Mutually Assured Destruction

Who’s got nukes?

COLD WAR: HOMEFRONT **A. Fear of Nuclear War. Americans were urged to build bomb shelters in their own basements.

Federal Civil Defense Administration (1950) -Educate people how to survive Atomic blast -Mobilize people in event of Atomic warfare What was the purpose of the “Bert the Turtle” campaign?

School children practice “duck and cover” drills