THE SHOCK OF THE THEN

The Threat of Nuclear War in the Fifties The Soviets and the USA had of course, made an alliance out of expediency which had immediately dissolved at the end of the war.  In place of the alliance there developed a rivalry and distrust in which two nuclear powers tried to maintain dominance over the other in what is termed "The Cold War".  Since the Soviets had developed their own bomb in 1949 any direct confrontation seemed suicidal since nuclear war meant total destruction.  There was a very real fear of a nuclear attack on America, how real this was is cause for speculation but naturally politicians  of both parties often tapped into that fear and ran for office based on how strong they would be against communists.  President Dwight Eisenhower's military plan relied on nuclear stockpiles rather than land forces. He hoped the threat of nuclear destruction would restrain the Soviets.  The Hydrogen Bomb Increasing American fears w...

Well I have been trying to talk about the Beat poets for about three blogs now. And I am almost there . . .  But. . . I still want to deal with some other events that happened in the 1950's communist witch Hunt which are so fascinating I just can't leave them out.  Introduction In 1919 there already existed in the USA committees set up to investigate the infiltration of Bolshevism into the USA, the first "Red Scare" after the Russian revolution. In 1938, the House Committee on Un-American Activities was established as a special investigating committee, reorganized from its previous incarnations as the Fish Committee and the McCormack-Dickstein Committee, to investigate alleged disloyalty and subversive activities on the part of private citizens, public employees, and those organizations suspected of having communist or fascist ties.  The HUAC (the House Committee on Un-American Activities)  Became a standing (permanent) committee in 1945 and consist...