FEAR
In the 1940s and '50s, the Cold War was fought through fear and persecution on both sides of the globe. In the United States, anti-communism became strident. Those who refused to completely renounce communism and its supporters were considered suspect. This was underscored by the actions of the FBI, under its leader J. Edgar Hoover.
In the Soviet Union, fences were raised against the outside world. The Gulag -- the secret government system of labor camps -- housed millions of prisoners.
HOLLYWOOD
At home, Americans feared communist subversion. Congress revived the House Committee on Un-American Activities. In 1947, the committee investigated America's film industry. Some of Hollywood's best-known actors, producers and writers were called to testify.
The "Hollywood Ten"
But 10 witnesses, who became known as the Hollywood Ten, defied the committee's line of questioning. The 10 were imprisoned. Hundreds more in Hollywood, suspected of communist sympathies, were blacklisted -- and unable to find work.
WITCH HUNTS
Several U.S. politicians used the Red Scare to their advantage. A State Department official, Alger Hiss, was accused by a former communist of passing secrets to the Soviet Union. Leading the prosecution against Hiss -- who was later jailed for perjury -- was a young California congressman named Richard Nixon.
Sen. Joseph McCarthy
Fear of communism also brought Republican Sen. Joseph McCarthy into the limelight. During Senate hearings, McCarthy claimed to have lists of communists in the U.S. military, State Department and other government agencies. For months, McCarthy was able to attack people's reputations at will. He eventually fell out of public favor and power -- after he denounced leading Republicans and senior Army officials as communists.
ROSENBERGS
The fate of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg came to symbolize the excesses of the U.S. Red Scare. The couple were convicted of passing atomic secrets to the Soviet Union and sentenced to death.
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
Despite protests that the death sentence against the Rosenbergs -- who had young children -- was unconstitutional, they became the first U.S. civilians to be executed in peacetime for espionage.
CONFORMITY
In the Soviet bloc, Joseph Stalin was eliminating all traces of outside influences -- and any dissent against his form of communism. Following his split with Yugoslav leader Marshal Tito, Stalin had Czechoslovakia's Communist Party secretary, Rudolf Slansky, arrested and charged with Titoism, spying and sabotage. Slansky and 10 others were executed in 1952.
The Czech Jewish party leader Rudolf Slansky (seen here with his family) was found guilty of "Trotskyite-Titoist-Zionist activities in the service of American imperialism" at a trial in Prague in November 1952.
In the Soviet Union, those who discussed change, even in private, risked punishment. At age 17, Susanna Pechuro was arrested and charged with treason and terrorism as a member of a secret discussion group. Three of her friends were executed. Over the years, millions shared their fate -- many vanishing without a trace.
STALIN
In 1952, an old but still-unchallenged Stalin presided over the 19th Congress of the Soviet Communist Party. Before a hall packed with international dignitaries, Stalin declared that capitalists were losing the global class struggle.
But at home, Stalin saw treachery everywhere. Most of all, he suspected so-called cosmopolitans, mostly Jewish intellectuals and professionals. In January 1953, nine Kremlin doctors -- five of whom were Jewish -- were accused of plotting with Western intelligence to kill Soviet leaders. The affair inflamed Russian anti-Semitism.
Weeks later, Stalin collapsed of a brain hemorrhage. No one dared treat him as he lay half-conscious on the floor. Stalin died on March 5, 1953. Even those in the Soviet bloc who hated him could not imagine a future without him.
Additional Sources:
www.cnn.com
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cti.itc.virginia.edu
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members.tripod.com/ bonniewmon
korea50.army.mil
www.phyton.dk
www.usc.edu
www.evesmag.com
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