POST WAR SOCIETY AND LIBERALISM
I. SECOND RED SCARE
- Starts after the ww2
- House un-American activities committee o Claimed people working in government were socialists and more committed to the soviets o Causes Truman to set up a loyalty review board to make sure people are loyal to the government
 Becomes a responsibility of managers and supervisors to make sure people are reliable o The concern is people are spies in the government
 Many people were dismissed from job
 People with alcohol problems, homosexuals, and people in debt were all considered security risks
 The fact that there were spies made this worse
- Alger Hiss o Very rich and powerful man in Washington
 Had worked for several federal agencies o Accused of being a soviet spy by Whittaker Chambers
 Whitaker was the Times editor
 Whittaker was a soviet spy, and he said Hiss passed documents to him years earlier o Hiss sues Chambers for libel o Whitaker produces documents that Hiss had passed to Whitaker
 Hiss is put on trial
 Hiss is convicted of perjury- lying about being a spy
 Not espionage
- Julius and Ethel Rosenberg o Married couple passing information about the atomic bomb to Russia
 Not overwhelming evidence, but they are convicted and sentenced to execution o After the execution, their son tries to prove his families innocence
 We know now they were completely guilty
- These cases leave everyone to worry about spies
- Senator Joseph McCarthy o Uses hysteria to his advantage o Says the federal government is full of spies o Constantly accuses people of being spies
 Ruins careers
 Anyone expected of being a communist of communist sympathizer is questioned
- McCarthy badgers people on the stand and is very pushy o Goes After a lot of celebrities o If you didn’t testify you are blacklisted
- All the prosecutions are televised o The way to get out of being accused a spy was to point the finger at other people
- McCarthyism o Accuses almost everyone of being a spy
 There are spies in the government, but McCarthy finds 0 o Starts to bring army people in, and people realize he’s being ridiculous o Its also very hard on diplomats
- Gets very out of hand
- Leaves Americans with the fear there are communists everywhere, and even you can be accused if your not a communist

II. CHARACTERISTICS OF POST WAR LIBERALISM
- In the mid 20th century, all people consider themselves liberal o Influences policies for 20 years o Nature of U.S. is exceptional
 Belief the U.S. is the best on earth
- Capitalism o No reason for the U.S. to get better
- Cold War and Containment o Stop the spread of communism, because capitalism is the solution to the worlds problems o All people are very focused on winning the cold war
- Government’s could and should regulate the economy o Governments should command economy and foster growth o Hope to continue prosperity in the U.S.
- Government should provide a basic standard of living for all Americans o Continue new deal policies, especially for middle class o No drastic dismantling of new deal after ww2
 Even ones FDR considered temporary
- War on poverty o Believed government could end poverty in U.S. all together and they should
 Experts should be hired to fix these problems
 Large debate on this
- Civil rights o Starts to be a consensus after ww2 that something has to be done about mistreatment of African Americans o 1950’s starts the movement of this
- This generation has hope that government can make everyone’s lives better o Wanted government to do more o Legacy of the progressives

III. AFFLUENCE
- We see a lot of this confidence because of the material abundance and prosperity of America o People had lived through the great depression, and saw the U.S. jump to the strongest country in the world in 20 years
- There is a slight recession after the war, but the economy picks up
- G.I. Bill o Americans start to talk about taking care of