On many occasions, this mistrust was born from a lack of communication, and what one nation perceived as a defensive and reactionary move, the other saw as an aggressive and expansionist show of intent. For the United States, it could be argued that the famous fear and hysteria over Communism was born in 1953. On June 19 1953, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed, after being convicted of being American Communists, and conspiring to pass information about the American Atomic Bomb to the Soviet Union. This execution was extremely important, not only because it was the first execution of civilians for espionage in United States history, but it also confirmed to all American citizens that communist spies could be anywhere in the country. This was supported by the work of Senator Joseph McCarthy, whose extensive and often criticized work in searching out Communists in the US Administration and more general society created a hysterical fear of Communism throughout America.
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.
Later that year in Potsdam, many open disagreements took place because Germany had lost the war so Russia had promised to fulfil, Churchill had lost the 1945 election and Roosevelt died so Truman, who replaced him was angered by the large scale reparations imposed on Germany and the setting up of a communist government in Poland. He did not trust Russia, so kept him in the dark about him having the atomic bomb in 1945 before he dropped it on Japan to get them to surrender. By America using the atomic bomb, Stalin knew that it was possible for it to be used against them. Russia was therefore tricked by America preventing the Red Army from going to Japan. This threatened Russia and warned them that America was wary of them and could act on it.
Institutions Over the past few years, the nation has been temporarily outraged by many different government scandals such as the leak of a CIA agent’s cover by their own government; the firing of United States Attorneys who weren’t blindly loyal to the administration; the suspension of habeas corpus rights, the friendly-fire death and subsequent cover-up of soldier Pat Tillman; the warrantless wiretapping of American citizens. That last scandal is in the news again, because the President managed to have the laws changed retroactively, so his once-illegal surveillance program is now the law of the land. The military has covered up many things that have happened in the past to prevent from ruining their reputation and to discourage people from
Sentence- The CIA agent traveled incognito to spy on Russians planning to bomb the USA. 11. Incontrovertible Definition- Incontestable, undeniable, unquestionable. Part of Speech- Adjective. Sentence- The question whether or not Sean was going to get an A on his report card for English was
High Noon in the Cold War By: Max Frankel Max Frankel was a reporter for The New York Times during what some call one of the most frightening times post-World War II. In the book High Noon in the Cold War, Frankel tells his in depth coverage of the game of “nuclear chicken” played by John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev in October 1962, when Soviet missiles were secretly planted in Cuba and aimed at the United States. Drawing on secret government documents and his own familiarity with the story, Frankel describes the disastrous miscalculations of the two superpowers. The US thought the Soviets would never deploy missiles to Cuba, while the Soviets thought the US would just have to accept their deployment. “And so jointly, with the help of some foolish bases in Turkey, they miscalculated themselves into a flaming crisis” (P. 20).
On February 9, 1950, Senator Joseph McCarthy launched his crusade against "communism" as he saw it. The speech delivered in Wheeling, WV was infamous for its reference to members of Congress who McCarthy accused of being members of the Communist Party. The insinuation was that these men were silent enemies working in favor of the Soviet Union for the downfall of the American government and way of life. In the Wheeling speech, McCarthy played on the Cold War and Red Scare fears (fear of a communist takeover) by asserting that the communist world, particularly the Soviet Union, was in a showdown with the democratic nations led by the United States. He charged that there were 205 communist spies in the state department who were selling out the United States.
With the end of World War II and the fall of Nazism and Imperialism, a form of a political powerhouse was rising rapidly overseas in Soviet Russia. Russia was ruled by Communism while America was ruled by Capitalism. These two political powerhouses would clash constantly, and beginning in 1947, the American people would have to clash with it as well. In 1947, the HUAC, “an investigative group of United States citizens who reprimanded Un-American and subversive activities” (Simkin 1) summoned multiple Hollywood entertainment professionals who they believed were inspired by the Communist Party to place Communist propaganda into films. Ten writers and directors were determined suspects and these men became known as the Hollywood Ten (US History
How do you explain the start of the Cold War? The first half of the twentieth century was dominated by violence. Two world wars had ravaged most of Europe and caused deep rifts between nation states. International relations had deteriorated and were worsened by the fact that everyone was afraid of another war. What came out of the post war era was a generation of suspicion and mistrust called the Cold War.
name teacher class 17 February 2009 The Fall Of The Soviet Union The Soviet Union brought much terror to the world during its long and powerful reign. During the cold war, tension rose between the United States and the U.S.S.R. causing the biggest arms race in history. The competition led to the fall of the Soviets. The Soviet Union collapsed because of economic crisis, President Ronald Reagan, and debt from military spending. In 1985, Mikhael Gorbachev came to power, and claimed to have a different view on communism (Smitha, The Soviet Union).