Subvert- to cause the downfall, ruin, or destruction of; to overthrow; to corrupt. Subversion- an act or instance of subverting

Cold War. World War II had barley ended when the Cold War began. The Cold War pitted two ideologies, Communism and Capitalism, against one another. Josef Stalin was the Soviet dictator, he launched one of the soviets first attacks in April An ally in World II, the Soviet Union quickly became the United States’ bitter enemy, and the world seemed to be choosing sides. In Europe, the Soviets blockaded Berlin and drastically restricted Western access to Communist counties.

The Cold War was raging throughout the world and on the American homefront as well. Rumors of “atomic bombs” mixed with allegations that several high-level government officials including Assistant Treasury Secretary Harry Dexter White were spying on the Soviets. The government focused its attention on the suspected ringleader of spy recruitment efforts, the Communist Party of the United States. (CPUSA) They wanted to replace the U.S government the a communist government. People joined the CPUSA for many reasons, membership hit an all time low of 80,000 in 1944, when the Soviet Union was still America’s ally.

The federal government worked to crush the CPUSA (Communist Party of the United States of America) and stop the flow of secrets to the Soviet Union. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, the House Committee on Un-American Activities interrogated hundreds of people about Communist activity in the US. They questioned former spies, Hollywood personalities, and labor union leaders. Senator Joseph McCarthy led an investigation into Communist activity at government agencies. – His accusations eventually cost him his political support. – In December 1954, McCarthy’s colleagues in the Senate condemned him for bringing the Senate “into dishonor and disrepute.”

President Truman established a federal employee loyalty program in Executive Order 9835 mandated that every federal employee sign an oath swearing allegiance to the United States. It also created committees to investigate disloyal federal employees. The president publicly criticized the Senate subcommittee and repeatedly stated that McCarthy’s allegations were baseless.

J. Edgar Hoover described Communism as “an evil and malignant way of life” and dedicated much of his career to fighting against it. In the 1930s the FBI began collecting files on thousands of suspected Communists from Lucille Ball to Albert Einstein to Eleanor Roosevelt. In 1948 using evidence gathered by the FBI, the Justice Department accused eleven leaders of the CPUSA for violating the Smith Act, which made it a crime to advocate the violent overthrow of the U.S. government. The jury found all eleven defendants guilty.

Reds in decline. By the mid 1950s, the Communist Party of the United States was dying. Many members quit, weary of political pressure and disillusioned by revelations of Stalin’s brutality that emerged after his death in Key spies and party leaders were in prison or had fled the country. The final blow came in 1954 when the Communist Control Act completely outlawed the party, sending the few remaining members into hiding.

The practice of publicizing accusations of political disloyalty or subversion with insufficient regard to evidence. The word “McCarthyism” is used to refer to the frenzy surrounding the anti-Communist crusade in the United States. Senator McCarthy was a relative latecomer to the anti- Communist movement, and his fight against Communism only lasted five years. Anti-Communism was a way for McCarthy to steer his way into the political spotlight, but his spotlight dimmed quickly. The term “McCarthyism” continues to be a big part of the American vocabulary.

Caitlin Motes and Kaela Bishop Joseph McCarthy Communist Party of the USA Communists in America Josef Stalin