Crystal Ku Communism Fears Communism became most problematic for the U.S during the Cold War from 1945 to 1960. The Cold War started because of different government systems; Capitalist United States and Communist Soviet Union. The U.S strongly disagreed with the views of Communism causing fear that it would spread and take down U.S government. American Cold War fears of communism affected the U.S domestically from 1945 to 1960 by causing fear that there were Soviet spies in the U.S, convincing Americans that anyone could be a communist, and becoming the main focus for political issues.
Chaos stirred up in the U.S after there was knowledge of Soviet spies in the States. In 1946, “a major spy network … had passed American atomic secrets to the Soviets” (Boyer, 830). This showed that it was easy for Soviet spies to get into the government and that the government was weak, making Americans anxious about communism reaching the country. Soon after this event, Truman issued the Federal Employee Loyalty Program to root out subversives in the government. The fear of spies and communists became so severe that “schoolteachers, college professors, and state and city employees throughout the nation had to sign loyalty oaths or lose their jobs” (Boyer, 830). The government’s paranoia of communists in the States led to an improvement of the CIA; “collection, evaluation, and distribution of [CIA] intelligence must be strengthened and coordinated to the greatest practical degree” (Dorsey, 236). By 1957, eighty percent of the CIA’s budget was devoted to anticommunist activities. The CIA supported anticommunist cultural events, articles in magazines promoting the United States, and taking college students and businessmen abroad for undercover CIA activities. The CIA also sought out to keep a close eye on any suspicious communist behavior, which including being at school, jobs or public places. Red girl spies caused an even bigger fear because it proved that spies could be under any disguise. “It doesn’t occur to G.I.s … that girls could be up to such cold tricks” (Dorsey, 243). Americans were made to believe that no one could be trusted.
As paranoia of communists built up in the government, it also built up with the public people. To support anticommunist’s views, it was made a religious issue. In Billy Graham’s We Need Revival, he states that “Communism … has decided against God, against Christ, against the Bible … [and] is inspired, directed and motivated by the Devil” (Dorsey, 238). This makes people fear Communism by inferring that accepting Communism would put them in damnation. A distinction between Christians and non-Christians was developed as well; non-Christians were easier to accuse because Communism was compared as the opposite of Christianity. People were going such great lengths to promote anticommunism that it became extremely easy to accuse others with little evidence. “To protect themselves, individuals and organizations continued to avoid any hint of radicalism” (Boyer, 835). Since Communism believed in equal share of wealth to the people; radicalism, liberalism and other social equality views were looked down upon because they resembled Communism. Since it resembled Communism, it inferred that that person was on the Soviet Union’s side as a spy even if they were not. The House of Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) became a prime example of organizations that easily accused famous people.
The idea that it was easy to accuse others of being pro-Communist became a main political tactic. Politicians used these tactics to have people against their opponents or to make it seem as though they can handle the Communist problem better.