The Red Scare During The Cold War

The Red Scare
During the time of the Cold War, americans experienced what is now called The Red Scare. The Red Scare was a time of hysteria due to the perceived threats of communism in the U.S. At this point in time, the two superpowers of the world, the United States and the Soviet Union, were in a state of political and economic unrest. After World War II, the Soviet Union saw an open door to become the new world’s economic and political superpower. Naturally the Soviets assumed they deserved the right to be the leader of the new world inasmuch as they had sacrificed the most lives in Allies’ effort to defeat the Axis. Because of the tension between the two countries, both the United States and the Soviet Union came to the conclusion that

It all started with one family with access to america’s most critical nuclear secrets, the Rosenbergs, to really set the fear and growing panic of americans into motion. The head of this family was a man by the name of Julius Rosenberg; he worked as an engineer for the U.S. army signal corps, this allowed him access to nuclear secrets that the americans would do anything to protect from the communists. This family already had many watchful eyes on them as Julius and his wife, Ethel, were fired for simply being members of the Young Communist League. Soon, David Greenglass decided that it would be in his best interest to turn himself in for providing the nuclear secrets to an intermediary. To ensure his protection, David Greenglass also implicated both his brother-in-law, Julius Rosenberg, and his sister, Ethel Greenglass Rosenberg, for being accomplices. Their heavily publicized trial captured the interest and fears of the nation. Though their involvement is still argued today, the Rosenbergs were both sentenced to death for their alleged involvement for espionage. If you were to ask the children of the Rosenbergs today, they would tell you that their father was most definitely a culprit behind the stealing of nuclear secrets, but their mother was innocent and only used as an leverage to coax the most wanted confession from their complicit

To create a filter to protect the americans and their secrets, President Truman created what was known as the Loyalty Program. This program required its applicants to undergo an extensive and invasive background check, often violating any and all privacy, and they were forced to sign loyalty oaths affirming their allegiance to the U.S. These interrogations of government officials were often incredibly abusive, intrusive, and, in most cases, were based on weak or nonexistent evidence. These interrogations would often last for hours and in the event that the suspect applicant was not willing to share information due to their right to privacy, they were immediately labeled as communist