The Red Scare (1950s)

For each term or name, write a concise sentence or two explaining its significance.


1. HUAC- House Un-American Activities Committee which was the committee that began to investigate the Communist influence in the movie industry.


2. Blacklist- The list of people that the Hollywood executives condomned for having a Communistic background made up of approximately 500 actors, writers, producers, and directors.


3. Alger Hiss- A man that was sent to jail for supposedly having produced microfilm f government documents that the former Communist spy, Wittaker Chambers had said was written on his typewriter.


4. Ethel and Julius Rosenberg- Said to have been one of the dealiest clashes of the Cold War when found guilty of espionage and were minor activists in the American Communist Party.


5. Joseph McCarthy- A Republican from Wisconsin that was known as being an ineffectice legislature so in order to aquire more votes to be reelected he charged that Communism was taking over the government.


6. McCarthyism- It was when people referred to as the unfair tactic of accusing people of disloyalty without providing evidence.


7. In a paragraph, describe the motivations and actions of Joseph McCarthy during the 1950s. What prompted his actions? What did he do? What happened as a result of his actions?

During 1950 Joseph McCarthy realized that in order to be reelected into the Senate he needed more public votes. In order to get these votes he began suspecting other members of the Senate of Communism. He had said that he had a list of 205 names of people involved in Communism that were part of the State Department. However later on in 1954 when he made accusations against the U.S.Army he was condemned for imporper conduct that "tended to bring Senate into dishonor and disrepute." Also costing him public support when he alienated the audience and bullied the witnesses. Then just three years later he died of alcoholism.