SECOND RED SCARE

AND DOMESTIC
POLICY

SECOND RED SCARE

1947-1957.
Increased popular fear of communist espionage.
Iron Curtain.
Rosenberg trials.
USSR Nuclear Weapons.
HUAC/McCarthyism.
Communist China.

Former US spies admitted to previous acts of espionage during the first and
second Word Wars, rather proudly, once the statute of limitations had run
out.
Others admitted to knowing Soviet Spies who had previously worked for
the Federal Government.
Creation of the CIA.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 9835

Loyalty Order signed by Harry S. Truman.
March 22 1947.

Designed to root out communist influences in the U.S Federal

Government.
Espionage, treason, leaking of confidential information,
revolutionary/rebellious intentions towards government, etc.
Investigated over 3 million government employees.
Just over 300 were dismissed due to being deemed security risks.
Around 5000 resigned due to the pressure of the investigations.
This lead to many companys looking into employee loyalty.
Many members of the public were investigated by their employers
which had very real consequences on their daily lives.

LEVERING ACT
Enacted in California 1950.
Named after Harold K. Levering, the Republican legislator who drafted it.

State employees had to take a loyalty oath that specifically disavowed radical
beliefs.
Aimed specifically at members of the University of California.
31 tenured professors were fired when they refused to take the oath on the
grounds of academic freedom.
Many more employees resigned or were sacked for similar reasons.
The California State Federation of Teachers said in 1950:
The Levering Oath is in contradiction to the Federal Constitution since it
imposes on public workers a political test for employment, deprives them of
equal protection under the law as guaranteed in the 14th Amendment, and
exposes them through its ambiguity to self-incrimination and perjury.

McCARRAN INTERNAL SECURITY ACT

AKA Subversive Activities Control Act of 1950.
Vetoed by Harry S. Truman but passed through Congress anyway.
Required communist organisations to register with the United States
Attorney General.
Subversive Activities Control Board.
Investigated people and organisations that were suspected of
engaging in subversive activities.
People deemed to be engaging in these activities had a travel ban
placed upon them and in the case of immigrants, were not
allowed to seek citizenship & were deported in extreme cases.

It made protesting and picketing in front of government property

illegal.