Targets
The United States Government felt that anyone who spoke out against them at the time,were communists. They especially targeted civil rights leaders because they spoke out against the government and had their own conceptions about rights and freedom which were misinterpreted to be supporting communism. The US government felt threatened by the civil leaders public opinion which obtained a tremendous impact on the perspective of the American citizens regarding communism.
Fear of communism I'm the Cold War era also went together with the fear of homosexuals. People that self identified as homosexual or rumored to be gay we're labeled "security risk". Throughout 1950s the federal government held a number of investigations to identify and eliminate the gays and homosexuals that worked for the government. Government officials worried that homosexuals posed a threat to national security, and therefore needed to be removed from their jobs.
Hundreds of American government employees were dismissed simply for being gay, alcoholic, or left political sympathizers.
Fear of communism I'm the Cold War era also went together with the fear of homosexuals. People that self identified as homosexual or rumored to be gay we're labeled "security risk". Throughout 1950s the federal government held a number of investigations to identify and eliminate the gays and homosexuals that worked for the government. Government officials worried that homosexuals posed a threat to national security, and therefore needed to be removed from their jobs.
Hundreds of American government employees were dismissed simply for being gay, alcoholic, or left political sympathizers.
Accusations
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed for giving atomic bomb secrets to the Soviet during WWII. Julius was accused of being a spy in the army.
Rosenberg's wife, Ethel, was not a spy but she knew that her husband was, and she refused to name names because of her Communist ideology and friends. The judge who presided over the case knew that helping the Soviets with atomic power would be worse than committing a murder which will result in a death sentence.
Q: Think very carefully on each question and answer very distinctly. Are you a member of the Communist Party?
A: I decline to answer that question on the ground that this might tend to incriminate me.
Q: Are you a member of the Young Communist League?
A: Again I decline to answer that question on the grounds that this might tend to incriminate me......
Q: Think very carefully on each question and answer very distinctly. Are you a member of the Communist Party?
A: I decline to answer that question on the ground that this might tend to incriminate me.
Q: Are you a member of the Young Communist League?
A: Again I decline to answer that question on the grounds that this might tend to incriminate me......
1950 Grand Jury Testimony from Office of the US Attorney for the Southern District of NY
" Let me explain to you again that when a third party is present during a conversation between you and your husband, the privilege of husband and wife is lost, it cannot be exercised, and the only reason you can decline to answer the question which has been put to you is on the ground it might tend to incriminate or degrade you. Will you please answer the question? In other words, the privilege of husband and wife is only when the two of them are present; but when a third party is present the privilege is lost because it is overheard by a third party in your presence. Your ground for refusing to answer must be on the ground that the answer to the question which has been put to you might tend to incriminate or degrade you."
" Let me explain to you again that when a third party is present during a conversation between you and your husband, the privilege of husband and wife is lost, it cannot be exercised, and the only reason you can decline to answer the question which has been put to you is on the ground it might tend to incriminate or degrade you. Will you please answer the question? In other words, the privilege of husband and wife is only when the two of them are present; but when a third party is present the privilege is lost because it is overheard by a third party in your presence. Your ground for refusing to answer must be on the ground that the answer to the question which has been put to you might tend to incriminate or degrade you."
"I consider your crime worse than murder... I believe your conduct in putting into the hands of the Russians the A-Bomb years before our best scientists predicted Russia would perfect the bomb has already caused, in my opinion, the Communist aggression in Korea, with the resultant casualties exceeding 50,000 and who knows but that millions more of innocent people may pay the price of your treason. Indeed, by your betrayal you undoubtedly have altered the course of history to the disadvantage of our country. No one can say that we do not live in a constant state of tension. We have evidence of your treachery all around us every day for the civilian defense activities throughout the nation are aimed at preparing us for an atom bomb attack."- Judge Kauffman