Witch Hunt or Red Menace? Anticommunism in Postwar America, 1945-1954

Guilty until proven innocent? A short video tackles the question of why witch hunts occur by examining the history of these purges and the tests used to identify those suspect of working with the devil.

Was the House Un-American Activities Committee justified in investigating subversive influences in the entertainment industry? Part two of the three-part series of lessons that examine the anti-communism movement after World War II,...

Students investigate what constitutes an "un-American" activity and why Soviet espionage was such an important issue in the 1940's and 1950's. Joseph McCarthy's impact on American anticommunism is examined in this lesson. There are three...

In Hartford, Connecticut in 1662, 30 years before the infamous Salem witch trials, a witch hunt hysteria took hold, resulting in seven trials and four executions. Find out about the accusations and trials that rattled Hartford,...

In this Curriculum Unit, learners will consider "Anticommunism in Postwar America, 1945-1954: Witch Hunt or Red Menace?" in 3 Lessons. The unit also includes worksheets and other student materials that can be found under the resource tab.

The House Un-American Activities Committee gained noteriety in the 1950s with Joseph McCarthy and his witch hunts. The committee was still in existence in the early 1960s. Read this brief article to see what it was investigating then.

Take a crash course on the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), a group that investigated the "loyalty" of those suspected of having Communist ties after World War II. [1:35]

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...

Challenge historians to investigate influential African-Americans through this online research activity. Learners undertake this task using online links, some of which require investigative searching. Print the worksheet out first, so...

Learners consider the implications of the Salem Witch Trials. In this literature lesson, students read Arthur Miller's The Crucible and compare the witch trials to McCarthyism of the 1950's. Learners rewrite scenes from the play using a...