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McCarthyism facts for kids

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Joseph McCarthy
Senator Joseph McCarthy

McCarthyism is the term describing a period of intense anti-Communist suspicion in the United States that lasted roughly from the late 1940s to the mid to late 1950s. The term gets its name from U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy, a Republican of Wisconsin. The period of McCarthyism is also referred to as the Second Red Scare. It happened at the same times as increased fears of Communist influence on American institutions, espionage by Soviet agents such as the Rosenbergs, heightened tension from Soviet control over Eastern Europe, the success of the Chinese Communist revolution (1949) and the Korean War (1950-1953).

Images for kids

  • Anticommunist Literature 1950s

    American anti-communist propaganda of the 1950s, specifically addressing the entertainment industry

  • Herblock1950

    One of the earliest uses of the term McCarthyism was in a cartoon by Herbert Block ("Herblock"), published in The Washington Post, March 29, 1950.

  • Page one of Executive Order 9835

    Executive Order 9835, signed by President Truman in 1947

  • Hoover-JEdgar-LOC

    J. Edgar Hoover in 1961

  • Unholy three

    Flier issued in May 1955 by the Keep America Committee urging readers to "fight communistic world government" by opposing public health programs

  • Dalton and Cleo Trumbo (1947 HUAC hearings)

    Dalton Trumbo and his wife, Cleo, at the HUAC in 1947

  • Welch-McCarthy-Hearings

    Joseph N. Welch (left) and Senator McCarthy, June 9, 1954

  • Edward r murrow challenge of ideas screenshot 2

    Broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow

See also

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