History 474B

Spring 2004

Devine

 

 

Study Questions for Haynes, Red Scare or Red Menace?

 

 

Assignment:  You are responsible for reading the entire book however, if you are unable to complete this reading over the course of the next week, be sure to read chapters 1-4; 5 OR 6; 7 OR 8; and the conclusion (Chapter 9).

 

 

  1. On the first page of the preface, Haynes states that “four deficiencies stand out” in most studies of American anticommunism in the late 1940s and 1950s.  As you read the book, take note of how he goes about addressing these deficiencies.  Does Haynes succeed in burying the “irrational hysteria” characterization of anti-communism still found in many college text books?

 

  1. What was it like living under Communism in those countries, like the Soviet Union, where the Communist Party won control of the government?

 

  1. Why did Americans dislike and even fear Communism?  Why and during what periods did Americans’ fear of Communism increase?  What evidence does Haynes cite to suggest that specific events more than paranoia or other irrational impulses fueled this fear?

 

  1. Why were the 1930s the “heyday” of American Communism?

 

  1. How was the antifascist movement (or “brown scare”) of the 1930s similar to the anticommunist movement (or “red scare”) of the late 1940s and 1950s?  Do you see any historical irony here?

 

  1. What effects, long- and short-term, did the Nazi-Soviet pact have on the American Communist party?

 

  1. How did events abroad and revelations of espionage contribute to a rise in anticommunism within the U.S.?  What was the significance of the Amerasia, Fuchs, and Rosenberg cases? What effect did these case have on American politics?

 

  1. Who was Elizabeth Bentley?  Who was Alger Hiss?  How have recent revelations changed historians’ assessments of them?

 

  1. Compare and contrast evangelical, Catholic, socialist, Trotskyist, and labor union-based anticommunism.  Some historians have argued that all anti-communists were the same – it did not matter how they came to their anticommunism, they all contributed to the red scare, so they all were “McCarthyites,” and therefore, they all should be condemned.  Haynes disagrees.  Does he make a good case for his point of view?  Where do you stand?

 

  1. How did Popular Front liberals (those who eventually joined PCA) differ from anti-communist liberals (those who eventually joined ADA)?  On what specific issues did they disagree?  Which side do you think you would have been on? Why?

 

  1. Why was Communism a big issue within the labor movement, particularly in CIO?  Why did CIO President Philip Murray decide to expel the Communists from the CIO?  Was this a good idea?

 

  1. How did the Democrats deal with the issue of Communism during this period?  How did they contribute to the popular notion of a “communist conspiracy?”

 

  1. Some historians have argued that champion red-hunter Senator Joseph McCarthy was in fact the worst thing that could have happened to the anticommunist cause.  Why do they say this?

 

  1. What problems plagued the federal government’s personnel security program?  Did the government need to institute such a program?

 

  1. Why did the philosopher Sidney Hook maintain that it was justifiable to fire a teacher who was a member of the Communist Party? Does he make a good case for his argument? [see p. 178]

 

  1. How did various organizations with unrelated agendas exploit the popularity of anticommunism to achieve their ends?

 

  1. Some historians have argued that Americans were “obsessed” with Communism during the 1950s.  Haynes argues that this is a myth. Does he make a good case for his revision of the “conventional wisdom?”

 

  1. Haynes concludes, “For all its sporadic ugliness, excesses, and silliness, the anticommunism of the 1940s and 1950s was an understandable and rational response to a real danger to American democracy.”  To what extent do you agree?  If you disagree, how would you rewrite the last sentence of the book?