Rosenberg's Political Witch Hunt

In addition to limiting freedom of speech through the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Smith Act, Congress continued on a witch-hunt to remove all dissenters in any way they could, often charging and prosecuting individuals based on circumstantial evidence. This period, often referred to as the Second Red Scare, followed World War II and came as the United States entered the Cold War, was a time of much paranoia. One of the many cases during this period that showed how little evidence was used against individuals to incriminate them was the case of Annie Lee Moss. According to a F.B.I informant, Ms. Moss was a “card carrying, dues paying” member of the Communist party and was brought to testify before McCarthy’s committee, for she was “alleged to have examined and correct secret, encoded oversee messages.” (The McCarthy Years)

This not only applied to America, but also to other countries such as France and Italy. To aid against the Soviet Unions growing Communist power over such countries, America enacted Cold War liberalism in an attempt to contain the forces within Russia. It was further helped through the Mutual Security Act, which provided countries with grants that would help them combat Communist takeover. In addition, it is shown through the audience of Doc 2 how public speeches on the subject of Communism affected the public by riling them up to points of violence. The speeches by Joseph McCarthy, the most prominent Red Scare speaker, created a popular practice called McCarthyism. In this, people would make accusations against others about supposed Communist ties without any substantial evidence. The most drastic case that resulted from McCarthyism was the Rosenberg’s, who were executed for their supposed ties with Communist

During the Cold War communist began to emerge. Communist are people who follow or believe in communism. They were such a small group that no one paid much attention to them until after World War 2. When WW II ended communist started causing problems. They already took power in other countries and Americans began to fear they would do the same to the U.S. They wondered if Soviet Spies were in America secretly advertising communism. U.S. citizens even questioned if communist were involved in U.S. government jobs or in schools miseducating students and children. To help calm down these fears Joseph Raymond McCarthy started McCarthyism. (Shmoop.com)

There was a controversy about did communism pose a domestic threat to America or not. There was a case involving Alger Hiss and Ethel Rosenberg about communism. Allen Weinstein was against Alger Hiss but couldn't find no evidence of a government conspiracy. Hiss continued to deny any wrong doing and challenged Weinstein's methods and motivations. People who had previously maintained the innocence of Alger Hiss began to admit that the pronderance of the evidence pointed more convincingly toward his guilt.

The Salem witch trials and the McCarthy hearings happened in different time periods but have the same general ideas. These people would be considered free of the devil once they names others whom they had seen with the devil, if people refused to name others they would be hanged or put in jail awaiting a trial. During McCarthyism, which started during the Cold War, many government workers were accused of being Soviet spies (Reeves). This was very concerning to the people of America and made the

David Greenglass was apart of the Manhatten Project, and traded scetches of the atomic bomb for five hundred dollars, therefore he proved he may not be as innocent as we think he is. His wife, Ruth Greenglass, was also in contact with Julius. She said Julius had been in contact witht the Russians. She engaged her husband in espionage.

During the 1950s there was a rise in the fear of communism called “The Red Scare”. Senator Joseph McCarthy was one of the many people who contributed to people’s fear by making a list of people who he said were communists even though there was no proof in most cases. In an article by Alan Brinkley called “The 1950s Part One: McCarthy and The Red Scare”, it informs, “McCarthy was only one of many who helped create the great fear. The Red Scare was visible in almost every area of American life” (Brinkley). This quote tell us that in the 1950s even though Senator Joseph McCarthy was a huge contributor to The Red Scare. His list of suspected communists made rumors spread and the people on the list get questioned and even go to jail when in some cases they were innocent. It also says in the article by USHistory.org called “McCarthyism: Witch Hunting and Blacklisting in America”, that, “In the 1950s anyone who was considered a communist could be questioned and thrown in jail” (USHistory.org). Which means that his allegations could have easily put people in prison.

These people were suspected of helping the Communist country, so this Cold War hostility helped to determine the harsh punishment given to the suspected communist. There was a “list of questionable organizations . . . that were considered disloyal” (Reeves). One could be put on this list simply because the boss did not get along with the employee. Anyone, even the loyalist, and most trustworthy people, could be tried for Communism. Many innocent people 's lives were forever changed by the insane acts of this time.

Rosenberg Spies In 1951, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were convicted of passing information to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) concerning the construction of nuclear weapons. In 1953, the United States Government executed them. Some say, the Rosenbergs received their just punishment. Many historians feel that the trial was unfair, and that international claims for clemency were wrongly ignored.

Senator Joseph McCarthy took advantage of the massive nationwide fear to accelerate his own political career. McCarthy accused thousands of people, in a wide variety of different occupations, of being loyal to the Communist Party. A copious amount of the people accused of being communists suffered after losing their jobs, even though there was no evidence proving that they were communists. He also incited massive paranoia by claiming that there were Soviet spies working inside the United States government, and were working to destroy it. This, later became known as McCarthyism: “the political practice of publicizing accusation of disloyalty or subversion with insufficient regard to evidence,” as defined by the American Heritage Dictionary. Regardless of Senator McCarthy’s inability to recognize a single solitary communist in the federal administration, a few national reinforcements supplied his accusations validity with the general public. The histrionic espionage trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, in 1951, energized McCarthy’s charges. The Rosenbergs were executed in 1953 after being indicted for passing U.S. government nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union. “Also fueling McCarthy’s charges were a series of trials of American Communists between 1949 and 1955 for violation of the 1940 Smith Act, which prohibited Americans from advocating the violent overthrow of the government.

People were accused of affiliation with the communist party by Senator Joseph McCarthy. Mr. McCarthy shouted names recklessly into a void. He presented the information in a speech in Wheeling, West Virginia and accused around two hundred people in the United States government of association with the communist party (Bayley 16). On February 9, 1950, he stated specifically that people in the State Department were accused. The insane part about it was he did it with little to no evidence of the person (Bayley 22). One reason he may have got away with it for a while was the fact he had connections to the media. McCarthy would give a speech about the trials, or anything to do with it and within hours a source published information about it (CITE!). The rate at which that happened was too rapid for the fifties. Social media did not exist and news did not spread nearly as fast as it does now. It took time in the fifties. Many believed then and even now that the media worked with McCarthy to put out the information he wanted to be heard. Reasons for any of it? Maybe it was some quid pro quo between the media and politicians. Politicians promised the media additional information if they filtered what the general public . Situations similar to paying off the media happen in current day. (INSERT EXAMPLE HERE). Not only the politicians benefitted from it, but the media redeemed what they looked for to project to the public. This

were selling the secrets of nuclear weapons to the Soviet Union. They arrested many people including Klaus Fuchs who was a member of the Manhattan Project and who was selling information about the atomic bomb to Moscow. McCarthy and Hoover "began a massive witch-hunt," which led to Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. (Moss,220-222)

A series of high profile spy scandals, like that of Alger Hiss, were reported in the press. It also became clear that the USSR's rapid progress in mastering atomic energy had been aided by information gathered by spies from the US nuclear program. Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy, grabbed the headlines by declaring in early 1950 that the Truman administration was infiltrated by Communist agents and sympathisers. A modern-day witch-hunt broke out, with widespread panic ensuing. Anti-communist feeling intensified and many people, especially the Republican opposition, claimed that the government was not being tough enough on Communism,

Fearing the unknown is a common aspect of human nature. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were an average married couple living in New York City during the Cold War. They were members of the Communist Party when anti-Communist feelings in the United States were at their peak. Little did they know that as they continued with their daily lives, a series of investigations were being conducted that would soon land them in the electric chair. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were accused and convicted of passing along confidential atomic bomb information to Soviet Union spies. After a long battle, they were executed in the electric chair at Sing Sing Prison in 1953. The couple never admitted guilt to the charges, and their conviction and execution caused their two young boys to grow up without parents. The Rosenberg trial is still considered one of the most controversial events in United States history. Few other trials have instigated as much debate, aroused such passion or generated as many books and articles. Thus the question arises: in what ways and to what extent did the hysteria of the Cold War lead to the trial and execution of the Rosenbergs?

At the outbreak of war, Rosenberg was living with his sister in South Africa. He returned to England in 1915 and signed up for army service. However, Rosenberg stated from the very beginning that he did not volunteer out of patriotic feelings or nationalistic fervour; rather, it was his dire need of money that motivated him to enlist. Rosenberg's life in the trenches was more than hellish. He believed that "the army is the most detestable invention on this earth and nobody but a private in the army knows what it is to be a slave" (cited in Egremont, 2014, p. 116). Although Rosenberg's pre-war life was not an ideal one since he spent his whole life searching for his identity and struggling against poverty and illness, the war experience was