In the 1950s, how did the Red Scare and the actions of Senator Joseph McCarthy affect the American people? Your young historians will analyze primary source documents on the Red Scare, participate in a "find the...

The Rosenbergs—executed for their role in a Soviet-era spy ring—continue the captivate the American imagination. Using a history lab format, young historians examine the trove of documents associated with the case, including photographs...

Was it all about the bananas—or the fear of a communist threat? Young historians use a history lab to examine documents from the American-led 1954 Guatemalan coup. Using graphics, government documents, and speeches, they examine the...

Students research and examine the unsavory history of the hunt for communists in the United States during the 1950s. They divide up into groups to review the Red Scare of the 1920s as a backdrop to the McCarthy era and write a short...

Understanding the historical context of Arthur Miller's The Crucible is an important part in understanding the play itself. Over 25 slides, the audience learns details of Miller's early childhood and some major events that were happening...

Students investigate the Sacco-Vanzetti trial and develop a basic understanding of the issues involved. Then they write an essay taking a stance on the Sacco-Vanzetti trial: was the trial fair? were the two men falsely accused? Finally,...

For this online interactive history worksheet, students respond to 10 short answer and essay questions about the achievements of Ronald Reagan. Students may check some of their answers on the interactive worksheet.

[Free Registration/Login Required] An essay tracing the anti-Communist hysteria beginning in earnest at the end of World War II that resulted in Truman's federal Loyalty Security program and ending with McCarthyism in the 1950s.

Looks at the paranoia of the 1950s when Americans lived in fear of communism. The House Committee on Un-American Activities created blacklists of people working in Hollywood, McCarthyism flourished, and the Rosenberg couple were tried...

Senator Joseph McCarthy did not create the national obsession with communist subversion. It had arisen in the late 1930s, years before McCarthy had come to public notice. Angry that they had been barred from the corridors of power for 20...

Learn about the Rosenberg trial, HUAC, and Joseph McCarthy.

A quick comprehension check over the Red Scare.

This video and support materials detail the Hollywood blacklist and House Un-American Activities Committee, chronicling the fear of Communism and resulting blacklist based on political ideology. The video is from the American Masters...

Margaret Chase Smith was the first woman elected to both houses of Congress. She was the first woman to enter the Senate without being appointed to the position. During World War II, she was the only civilian woman to go to sea in a Navy...

This site from the University of Washington discusses films produced in Hollywood before, during, and after the Red Scare.

Describes the events that took place during the McCarthy Era and actions of the House Un-American Activities Committee. Ordinary Americans feared being identified as a Communist sympathizer and libraries removed books from their shelves...

Kids learn the history of the Red Scare during the Cold War. A fear of communism caused black lists and accusations led by Senator Joseph McCarthy.

A brief look at American life and politics in the 1950s with an increase in consumerism and fear of the Soviet Union.

In February 1950, Senator Joseph R. McCarthy had charged that the Department of State knowingly harbored Communists. Hearings on McCarthy's accusations were held under the chairmanship of Senator Millard Tydings of Maryland. The...

This is the text of the testimony of Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, a member of the USA Communist Party, who spoke in her own defense at her trial for being a Communist on April 24 1952, in New York.

It's interesting to read about the anti-union sentiment that led to the Taft-Hartley Act after World War II, but even more amazing to see how that sentiment was tied to the anti-communist witch hunts of the time. Read the comments of the...

These videos and support materials explore the intense division experienced by those who testified before and blacklisted by HUAC during the Cold War, focusing on the testimony of Elia Kazan. The videos are from American Masters None...

Read a speech and a letter from Joseph McCarthy supporting his contention that there are Communists in the State Department.