Cold+War+ct

= Cold War And American Society = The Rosenbergs were a sensational spy case that thought that American communists had sold the secrets of the atomic bomb to the Soviets. A lot of people didn't believe the Soviet Union could have produced the atomic bomb in 1949 by themselves. In 1950 British scientists admitted that they sent information to the Soviet Union. After that the FBI arrested Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, a couple who were members of the Communist Party. The government charged the Rosenbergs with heading a Soviet spy ring but they denied the charges but were then condemned to death for espionage. The Rosenbergs were executed in June 1953.

McCarthy became chairman of the Senate subcommittee on investigations after the Republicans won control of Congress in 1952. McCarthy used the power of his committee to force government officials to testify about alleged Communist influences. He turned it into a search for disloyalty based on flimsy evidence and irrational fears. His tactic of damaging reputations with vague and unfounded charges became known as McCarthyism.