Anticommunism vs. Mccarthyism

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Anti-Communism and McCarthyism In the 1940s and early 1950s following World War II the communist Soviet Union was aggressively expanding. This expansion created a threat to America, and the beliefs it was built upon. The fear of communist expansion and control created an anti-communist movement throughout the American government and its people. Anti-communism did not just create foreign concerns but also domestic concerns in the public and government. Truman in the late 1940s, started to introduce doctrines that moved for the “containment” of communist expansion and influence in Europe. There was also the fear of an internal communist threat that spurred the creation of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). The HUAC held public investigations and tried to uncover communist toleration and subversion. One notorious investigation was against Alger Hiss, who was accused of passing classified documents to the Soviet Union in 1937 and 1938. In 1950 the McCarran Internal Security Act passed and required communist organizations to publish their records, and register with the government. When the Soviets successfully detonated a nuclear weapon in 1949, it took America by surprise. The speed at which Soviet technology was advancing drew suspicion to a conspiracy that American atomic secrets were handed over to the Soviets. These fears were found to be true in 1950 and masterminded by members of the Communist Party Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. On April 5, 1951 the Rosenberg’s were found guilty and sentenced to death. Around the same time in 1950 another element in the Cold War was forming an even stronger foundation for anti-communism activities. In June North Korean armies invaded South Korea starting the Korean War. With the Soviet support of North Korea and America's commitment to South Korea an already tense relationship was weakening further. All of
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