McCarthyism and Free Speech

During the Red Scare, some Americans were caught up the the witch hunt that was McCarthyism. Senator McCarthy held a series of hearings meant to find people who might be disloyal to the U.S. and who might be Communist or might sympathize with Communist views. The videos in this section are from a documentary about this time in American history. The real video footage from the time is valuable in helping us to understand what was going on during this time.












During class you will be asked to respond to the events depicted in the video and to reflect on what Freedom of Speech is and how far the Constitution goes to protect it.

Cold War: The Arms Race

Once the U.S. discovered that Russia had tested a nuclear bomb, they felt compelled to protect themselves with an even bigger weapon: the h-bomb. The video below shows the test of Ivy Mike, the first H Bomb test. On November 1, 1952 a mushroom cloud 8 miles across and 27 miles high filled the skies over the Pacific Ocean. Just as in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the explosion was followed by a rain of radioactive mud. The bomb was the first atomic weapon with a megaton yield explosion.




Some buildings survived the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings better than others. This led the U.S. Government to identify some buildings in America as safe places to go in the event of a nuclear attack. Americans were so worried about an atomic bomb being dropped on them, that the Civil Defense created films and provided training to tell people how to stay safer if an attack should occur. Check out the "Duck and Cover" film below.



Not only were school children and adults taught to "duck and cover," but special fall-out shelters also became popular. Some new homes were even built with them! The video below contains a radio commercial and images of the brochure for a company selling fall-out shelters.



Answer the questions on the hand-out "America Enters the Era of Nuclear Weapons" after viewing these videos.