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Unit 5, Section 1, Lesson 4: The Cold War at Home
Essential Question:
How did fear of domestic communism affect American society during the Cold War?
How did fear of domestic communism affect American society during the Cold War?
Key Vocabulary:
Red Scare, Alger Hiss, HUAC, Hollywood Ten, Blacklist, McCarthyism
Objectives:
• Describe the efforts of President Truman and the House of Representatives to fight communism at home.
• Explain how domestic spy cases increased fears of communist influence in the U.S. government.
• Analyze the rise and fall of Senator Joseph McCarthy and the methods of McCarthyism.
Red Scare, Alger Hiss, HUAC, Hollywood Ten, Blacklist, McCarthyism
Objectives:
• Describe the efforts of President Truman and the House of Representatives to fight communism at home.
• Explain how domestic spy cases increased fears of communist influence in the U.S. government.
• Analyze the rise and fall of Senator Joseph McCarthy and the methods of McCarthyism.
_It
was in the midst of the Cold War atmosphere that American life changed significantly. The U.S.
government issued public service announcements showing people how to "duck
and cover" in case of an atomic attack and school children practiced such
drills as a normal part of their educational routine. Popular
Mechanics issued an article containing blueprints for bomb
shelter. The Saturday Evening Post gave its readers
advice on "How You Can Survive an A-Bomb Blast" when it was fairly
obvious that one could hardly survive. Pamphlets were available in the
Post Office giving instructions on how to receive mail after a nuclear
attack. Feeding this new culture of atomic readiness was the government's
own bomb shelter program, the idea for which originated during the late
Eisenhower years but took off under President John F. Kennedy's own
fearful guidance. Simply, the politics of the Cold War made the once
irrational fear that "the Russians are coming" and the idea of total
war and nuclear holocaust such a fear represented a real possibility by the
early 1950s. American culture adapted accordingly. People's lives
were in many ways ruled by the very real chance of seeing the world end and
clinging to some (false) hope that they could somehow survive it.