Question

6. How did images and popular culture shape Americans' ideas about the Soviet Union and the atomic bomb? Use the films embedded in the learning module. 7. What defense measures did Americans take against a possible nuclear attack in the 1940's and 1950's? 8. What was the Lavender Scare? Why were people targeted in this "scare"? 9. Why did Joseph McCarthy become so popular in America? What led to his downfall? 10. What was life like for those in America who were accused of being a communist?

Answer 1

6. Images and popular culture great influenced Americans ideas about the Soviet Union and the Atomic Bomb. These films illustrated the importance of “Duck and Cover”. These short films used cartoon characters to appeal to children. They explained that when an atomic bomb goes off a white flash occurs and how an atomic bomb can destroy homes, knock signs down and explode windows. These images project the atomic bomb as a very serious and dangerous attack. The images and popular culture projected the Soviet Union as a dictatorship. They express that the people gain little while the government gains a lot, and while elections are held the results are always the same.

7. Duck and cover and shelter homes were their defense measures. They would actually be arrested if they didn’t get shelter.

8. The Lavender scare refers to a witch-hunt and mass firings of homosexuals in the 1950s from the United States government. It paralleled the anti-communist campaign known as McCarthyism and the Second Red scare. People were targeted because the government wanted to expose all gays.

9. McCarthy became popular in America because he was US senator for two years and became the visual senator on TV and to reporters. The excesses of Senator Joseph R. McCarthy anti-communist crusade led to his eventful censure by the U.S. Senate, and his downfall.

10. People who were accused of being communist had to go through aggressive interrogations and treated terribly. The main people to be looked at were US senators and the government.