Cold war vocab
This is the economic and political system of the Soviet Union, where the government controls property and businesses—the exact opposite of American capitalism.
What is Communism?
This major California entertainment industry became a prime target for government investigations looking for hidden communist messages in movies.
What is Hollywood?
This 3-letter American law enforcement agency, led by J. Edgar Hoover, used wiretaps and secret files to spy on suspected communist citizens.
What is the FBI?
This U.S. Senator from Wisconsin became famous by claiming he had a list of 205 communists working inside the U.S. government.
Who is Joseph McCarthy?
To protect schoolchildren from a potential nuclear attack, this famous "duck and..." strategy was taught in classrooms across America.
What is Duck and Cover?
This two-word term describes the era of political tension and nuclear standoff between the United States and the Soviet Union following World War II.
What is the Cold War?
This group of screenwriters and directors famously refused to answer questions from Congress and were jailed for it, known by a number.
Who are the Hollywood Ten?
This married American couple was convicted and executed for passing top-secret atomic bomb plans to the Soviet Union.
Who are Julius and Ethel Rosenberg?
This term, named after the senator himself, describes the practice of making reckless, unsupported accusations of treason or disloyalty.
What is McCarthyism?
The Red Scare caused a direct clash between national security and these basic American freedoms protected by the First Amendment.
What are Civil Liberties (or Free Speech / Constitutional Rights)?
This color was heavily associated with the Soviet Union flag and gave the "Red Scare" its name.
What is Red?
This government committee, known by its 4-letter acronym HUAC, spent years investigating "un-American" activities in the entertainment industry.
What is HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee)?
The Red Scare intensified when the USSR successfully tested this massive, destructive type of weapon in 1949, ending America's monopoly on nuclear power.
What is the Atomic Bomb?
McCarthy's downfall began when he made the mistake of accusing this branch of the U.S. Military of being soft on communism during televised hearings.
What is the U.S. Army?
To prove their patriotism, millions of teachers, union leaders, and government workers were forced to sign these legal pledges.
What are Loyalty Oaths?
To search out and expose suspected communists, the U.S. government conducted these types of intensive investigations, named after a historical 1692 event in Salem, Massachusetts.
What is a witch hunt?
This future U.S. President was an actor at the time and served as the head of the Screen Actors Guild, helping to identify suspected communists in Hollywood.
Who is Ronald Reagan?
This high-ranking State Department official was accused of being a Soviet spy and was convicted of perjury (lying under oath) in a trial that gripped the nation.
Who is Alger Hiss?
This respected CBS television journalist used his news program to bravely criticize McCarthy's bullying tactics, helping turn public opinion against him.
Who is Edward R. Murrow?
Many citizens built these concrete, underground structures in their backyards to survive a potential nuclear war with the Soviets.
What are Fallout Shelters (or Bomb Shelters)?
f a studio or business suspected you of being a communist, they placed you on this type of list, which effectively banned you from getting hired anywhere.
What is a blacklist?
This beloved I Love Lucy actress was investigated by the FBI for registering to vote as a communist years prior, though she was ultimately cleared.
Who is Lucille Ball?
This secret government project successfully cracked Soviet spy codes, proving that there actually were Soviet spies operating inside the US government
Following his reckless behavior, the U.S. Senate voted to do this to McCarthy, which is a formal, public vote of disapproval.
What is to censure him?
In 1954, Congress added the phrase "Under God" to this daily American recitation to contrast the U.S. with the officially atheist Soviet Union.
What is the Pledge of Allegiance?