- Truman “Loyalty” Program (1947)
- Loyalty oaths required of government employees
- 11 communists thrown in prison for advocating the overthrow of the US government
- Conviction upheld in Dennis v. US (1951)
- Conservatives were concerned with:
- Declining religious sentiment
- Sexual freedom
- Civil rights
- Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
- Convicted to giving atomic secrets to the Soviets
- Convicted of treason and executed
- HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee) went after Hollywood writers and directors who were suspected of being communists
- Richard Nixon led the investigations
- Hollywood Ten: refused to answer questions (5th amendment)di
- School libraries were searched for un-American books
- McCarthyism
- Wisconsin’s best claimed to have a list of communists in the government
- Went after people he suspected of being communists
- Even went after General Marshall (also former Secretary of State)
- Made America even more paranoid
- President Eisenhower let him have free reign
- Eventually goes after the military and gets burned