US History “Red Scare” – Study Questions

Directions: Answer the following questions. The answers can be found in Chapter 19, Section 2 (pg. 640-651) in your textbook.

1. What did HUAC stand for? What was its role?

2. Why was Alger Hiss such an attractive target for “Red-hunting” Republicans?

3. Who was Whitaker Chambers? What was his role in the Alger Hiss case?

4. What was Richard Nixon’s role in the Hiss case?

5. What were the “pumpkin papers”?

6. What was the outcome of the Alger Hiss case?

7. What did the Federal Employee Loyalty program give the FBI power to do?

8. What were some of the grounds for dismissal sanctioned by the Federal Employee Loyalty program?

9. Who was Klaus Fuchs?

10. Who were Julius and Ethel Rosenberg and what happened to them?

11. Define the following terms:

a. Subversive

b. Blacklisting

c. Demagogue

d. Vigilante

12. On February 9, 1950, Senator Joseph McCarthy claimed he had a list of what?

13. What is McCarthyism?

14. What was McCarthy’s relationship with other powerful political figures in Washington?

15. What government institution was McCarthy’s last target?

16. Who was Edward Murrow? (This is not in your textbook.)

The answers to the following questions can be found on pages 648-651.

17. What legal power did HUAC have?

18. Why was Hollywood a convenient target for the politicians on HUAC?

19. What was a “friendly witness” and what was an “unfriendly witness”?

20. What question did witnesses face before their testimony before HUAC began?

21. What four options did they have to choose from for their response? What would be the result of that action?

22. What option did the Hollywood Ten choose? What was the outcome of this decision?