McCarthyism and The Second Red Scare

By Abby Shaw

  • Potsdam Conference

    Churchill, Stalin, and Truman met at Potsdam, Germany to discuss terms for the end of WWII. However, this ended in a disagreement and left the countries feeling betrayed.

  • HUAC tries the Hollywood Ten

    The HUAC accused ten people working in Hollywood of supporting communism. They were sentenced to prison and were banned from working in Hollywood studios.

  • Alger Hiss

    Hiss, an American government official, was sentenced to five years in prison after being accused of being a Soviet spy.

  • McCarthy's Wheeling speech

    Joseph McCarthy stated that he had a list of 205 communists working in the American State Department. Although this wasn't true, it sparked McCarthyism.

  • Ed Murrow

    Murrow went after McCarthy directly by helping stop anticommunist movements led by McCarthy and he showed Americans the environment of fear that McCarthy and the HUAC had created.

  • McCarthy- Army hearings

    Starting in April, McCarthy said that the army was being soft on communism and opened hearings into his charges against the army.

  • The end of McCarthyism

    The senate censured McCarthy bringing McCarthyism to a halt.