Chapter 39
Loyalty Review Board
Established by Truman, investigated alleged communists holding government jobs; investigated more than 3 million federal employees, some 3,000 of whom either resigned or were dismissed.
Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)
Established by the House of Reps in 1938 to investigate "subversion." It founded on a temporary basis in 1938 to monitor activities of foreign agents. Made a standing committee in 1945. During World War II it investigated pro-fascist groups, but after the war it turned to investigating alleged communists. From 1947-1949, it conducted a series of sensational investigations into supposed communist infiltration of the U.S. government and Hollywood film industry.In 1948, Richard Nixon led the chase after Alger Hiss.
National Security Council (NSC)
Established by the National Security Act to advise the president on security matters
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
Established by the National Security Act to coordinate the government's foreign fact-gathering. In 1953, this organization staged a coup that led to the return of the corrupt and ruthless Shah of Iran. Similarly, this organization aided in the overthrow of a left-leaning government in Guatemala in 1954.
Alger Hiss
Had assisted President Franklin Roosevelt during the Yalta Conference and was accused of leaking secrets to the communists. He denied any connections to the communist party or any spy networks. Nonetheless, he was convicted and sent to prison for perjury; he had falsely testified under oath that he had never been a member of a communist party.
General Douglas MacArthur
He was the supreme allied commander during the Cold War in 1945(commanded the American occupation of Japan and United Nations troops in the Korean War). After World War II, MacArthur was put in charge of putting Japan back together. In the Korean War, he commanded the United Nations troops. MacArthur, wanted to blockade China and bomb Manchuria, but Truman didn't want to enlarge the war but when the angry general began to publicly criticize President Truman and spoke of using atomic weapons, Harry had no choice but to remove him from command on grounds of insubordination.
Warsaw Pact
In 1955, the Eastern European countries and the Soviets signed this pact which created a red military counterweight to the NATO forces in the West.
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
Military alliance between Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and the US. American participation would strengthen the policy of containing the Soviet Union; provide a framework for the reintegration of Germany into the European family; and reassure Europeans that America would not abandon them. The __ treaty was signed in Washington on April 4, 1949 to regard that an attack on one is an attack on all and promised to respond with armed forces if necessary. The pact marked a dramatic departure from American diplomat convention, a boost for European unification and a significant step in all militarization of the Cold War. It became the cornerstone of all Cold War American policy toward Europe. Dwight D.Eisenhower became the Supreme Commander. PURPOSE: KEEP RUSSIANS OUT, GERMANS DOWN, AND AMERICANS IN
Smith Act of 1940
Required fingerprinting and regulating of all aliens in the US. It made it a crime to teach or advocate the violent overthrow of the government. The basis of later prosecutions of members of the Communist and Socialist Workers parties.
Mao Zedong
The Communist leader in China. He established his regime in Beijing (the people's Republic of China) but the US refused to recognize it and continued to support the nationalist govt in Taiwan. He declared the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949 and supported the Chinese peasantry throughout his life.
Arms Race
The nuclear arms race during the Cold War was a period of high tension between the Soviet Union and the United States. Neither country wanted to implement their nuclear arsenals; the goal was only to have more nuclear weapons than the opponent. In an arms race, neither country wants to win: both countries simply want to stay better.
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
Two American citizens who had allegedly leaked atomic data to Moscow. Were convicted in 1951 of espionage and after prolonged appeals, went to the electric chair in 1953. They were the only people in American history ever executed in peacetime for espionage. Their trial began to sour some citizens on the excesses of the red-hunters
McCarren Internal Security Act (1950)
Was vetoed by Truman in 1950 but enacted by the Republican Congress, which authorized the president to arrest and detain suspicious people during an "internal security emergency" ; United States federal law that required the registration of Communist organizations with the Attorney General in the United States and established the Subversive Activities Control Board to investigate persons thought to be engaged in "un-American" activities, including homosexuals.
Hollywood Blacklists
When Hollywood attempted to protect its public image they adopted this and kept record of the "suspicious loyalty". And they were barred from employment in the industry. It ruined the careers of many individuals and forced some to create alias identities to secure work.
National Security Act of 1947
created the Department of Defense, which was housed in the Pentagon and headed by a new cabinet position, the Secretary of Defense, under which served civilian secretaries of the army, navy, and air force. It also formed the National Security Council (NSC) to advise the president on security matters and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to coordinate the government's foreign fact-gathering (spying).
McCarthyism
passed into the English language as a label for the dangerous forces of unfairness and fear that a democratic society can unlease only at its peril. It refers to the dangerous forces of unfairness and fear wrought by anticommunist paranoia.
Syngman Rhee
the first president of South Korea. His presidency, from August 1948 to April 1960, remains controversial, affected by Cold War tensions on the Korean peninsula and elsewhere. Rhee was a strong anti-Communist, and led South Korea through the Korean War. His presidency ended in resignation following popular protests against a disputed election. He died in exile in Hawaii.
Kim II Sung
was the dictatorial leader of North Korea from shortly after World War II until his death in 1994. He led guerrilla forces against the Japanese imperial army until he was forced to flee Korea in the late 1930s. In the early years of the Cold War, he sought to reunify all of Korea under his own Communist leadership. In 1949 and early 1950, it seemed that he might have more support among the Korean populace than the equally autocratic leader of South Korea, Syngman Rhee.
Joseph McCarthy
A Republican Senator from Wisconsin who was strongly against communism. He claimed there were many communists in the State Department. He did not have much evidence to support his accusations, and his search for communists was considered a type of "witch-hunt." When his lack of evidence was discovered, he was censored by Congress and lost his seat in Congress. He had sprung onto the national scene by charging that Secretary of State Dean Acheson was knowingly employing 205 Communist Party members (a claim he never proved, not even for one person), he ruthlessly sought to prosecute and persecute suspected communists, often targeting innocent people and destroying families and lives.
Chiang Kai-Shek
AKA Jiang Jieshi; General and leader of Nationalist China after 1925. Although he succeeded Sun Yat-sen as head of the Guomindang, he became a military dictator whose major goal was to crush the communist movement led by Mao Zedong. He was defeated by Mao Zedong's communist revolutionaries in 1949 and was forced to flee to the isalnd of Taiwan, where, with the support of the United States, he became president of the Republic of China
38th Parallel
Dividing line between North and South Korea first established to separate Soviet and US occupation zones after Japan's defeat in 1945; the Korean War began in 1950 after North Korean communists crossed the parallel into South Korea.