Index: Cold War

Jun 10,

1692

Bridget Bishop Hanged; First Victim of Salem Witch Trials

Oct 8,

1692

Salem Witch Hunt Begins to End – Governor Bans Use of “Spectral Evidence”

Feb 1,

1902

Langston Hughes, Noted African-American Poet, Social Critic, is Born

Apr 24,

1920

“Revolutionary Radicalism” Report Slurs Pacifists, Civil Libertarians, Liberals

Dec 26,

1936

Abraham Lincoln Brigade Volunteers Sail for Spain to Fight Fascism – Will Be Persecuted During the Cold War

Aug 14,

1938

HUAC: Communist Activities “Rampant” in Hollywood

Sep 2,

1939

FBI Memo Launches Notorious Custodial Detention Index

May 7,

1940

ACLU Expels Elizabeth Gurley Flynn from Board of Directors

Jun 29,

1940

Advocating an Idea is Illegal: Smith Act Passed

Jul 31,

1940

ACLU Demands Federal Investigation of Barriers to the Ballot for Minority (i.e., Radical) Parties

Jun 30,

1941

AG Biddle Creates First List of “Subversive” Organizations

Aug 25,

1945

John Birch Dies – Right-Wing Group Named in His Honor

Mar 12,

1947

Cold War Begins: Truman Doctrine Announced

Apr 10,

1947

Reagan “Names Names” to the FBI

Apr 14,

1947

“I Am Not a Communist,” Says Charlie Chaplin

May 26,

1947

FBI Memo Attacks “It’s A Wonderful Life” As Subversive, Anti-Capitalist Propaganda

Jul 26,

1947

President Truman Signs National Security Act – Creates CIA

Sep 18,

1947

National Security Act in Effect on This Day: Decades of Lawless Abuses Begin

Oct 20,

1947

HUAC Opens Hearings on Communists in Hollywood

Oct 24,

1947

Committee for the First Amendment Opposes HUAC Investigation of Hollywood

Oct 27,

1947

“Hollywood Ten” HUAC Hearings Begin – Angry Confrontation Erupts

Oct 30,

1947

Famed Playwright Brecht Testifies Before HUAC – Immediately Leaves the U.S.

Oct 30,

1947

Writer of MAS*H Refuses to Tell HUAC About His Beliefs and Associations – Is Blacklisted

Dec 14,

1947

ACLU Criticizes Hollywood Blacklist

Jan 9,

1948

Hollywood Ten Arraigned for Contempt of Congress

Mar 19,

1948

French Nobel Prize Winner, Mme. Joliot-Curie, Detained at Ellis Island for 24 Hours

Jun 18,

1948

CIA Gets Covert Action Authority

Jun 22,

1950

“Red Channels” Report Names Alleged Communists, Leads to Blacklisting

Jun 26,

1950

Anti-Communist Congress for Cultural Freedom Formed

Sep 22,

1950

Anti-Korean War Protester Waves “Peace” Flag; Gets Two Months in the Workhouse

Sep 22,

1950

Congress Passes Emergency Detention Act

Sep 22,

1950

Repressive McCarran Act Passed Over President Truman’s Veto

Nov 30,

1950

Author of Book Critical of the FBI Attacked, Smeared on the Floor of Congress

Jan 16,

1951

Hawaii Judge Acquits Three of Contempt of Congress for Claiming the Fifth Amendment Before HUAC

Apr 25,

1951

Hollywood Director Edward Dmytryk “Rehabilitates” Himself: Gives HUAC 26 Names

Jun 4,

1951

Smith Act Held Constitutional: Severe Blow to First Amendment

Jun 14,

1951

Joe McCarthy Attacks American War Hero, Gen. George C. Marshall

Jul 4,

1951

Cold War Reign of Fear: Madison, WI, Residents Afraid to Sign Petition with Excerpts from Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights

Jul 29,

1951

Loyalty Oaths Spread Fear, Charges ACLU

Aug 1,

1951

Radio Artists Bar Communists from Membership – ACLU Protests

Sep 12,

1951

LA Unitarian Minister Accused of “Aid and Comfort to the Communist Cause”

Sep 18,

1951

Evasion of Hollywood Blacklist by Film Studios Exposed

Sep 19,

1951

All-Time “Namer of Names,” Martin Berkeley, Names 150+ to HUAC

Oct 8,

1951

Emergency Civil Liberties Committee Formed

Jan 13,

1952

Cold War: “The Black Silence of Fear”

Mar 10,

1952

“Kill the Lawyers:” Smith Act Trial Attorneys Contempt Convictions Upheld

May 1,

1952

Actor Edward G. Robinson Confesses to HUAC — “I Was a Sucker”

Jun 27,

1952

Subversives Out! Repressive McCarran-Walter Immigration Act Signed

Jul 1,

1952

Eason Monroe, Fired For Refusing to Sign Loyalty Oath, Becomes Head of ACLU of Southern California

Aug 29,

1952

Frank Wilkinson Declines to Answer Questions About Political Associations, Is Fired, Begins Civil Liberties Career

Feb 25,

1953

President Eisenhower Warns: Communist Math Teachers May Sneak Marxism Into Math Problems

Mar 19,

1953

Howard Hughes Explains How to Make the Hollywood Blacklist Really Work

Apr 13,

1953

CIA Launches MKULTRA – Secret Drug Experiments Project

Apr 27,

1953

President Eisenhower Expands Loyalty Program to Cover Homosexuality

Jun 14,

1953

“Don’t Join the Book Burners:” Ike Indirectly Criticizes Joe McCarthy, Then Quickly Backtracks

Jun 19,

1953

Ethel and Julius Rosenberg Executed – Case Filled With Civil Liberties Problems

Nov 4,

1953

President Eisenhower Privately Admits Loyalty Program Problems – Does Not Act on Them

Feb 18,

1954

Cover-up: CIA Not Required to Report Criminal Conduct

Jun 9,

1954

“Have You No Decency?” Joseph N. Welch Rebukes Senator Joe McCarthy

Jun 24,

1954

New York State Bar Association: Disbar Members of Subversive Organizations

Aug 6,

1954

“Girl Scout Handbook” Subversive?

Aug 12,

1955

A.D.A. Head Proclaims (Somewhat Prematurely) “End of the McCarthy Era”

Feb 27,

1956

Loyalty Oaths Cannot Be Required for Federal Housing

Mar 8,

1956

Notorious FBI COINTELPRO Program Approved

Jun 11,

1956

Federal Loyalty Program Ruled Not Applicable to Non-Sensitive Jobs

Jun 12,

1956

“You Are the Un-Americans:” Paul Robeson Denounces HUAC

Jun 21,

1956

Playwright Arthur Miller Testifies Before HUAC – Refuses to Name Names

Jun 26,

1956

“One Pro-Communist Decision After Another:” Right-Wingers Attack Supreme Court

Jul 1,

1956

Report Condemns Blacklisting in Movies and Television

Nov 26,

1956

Three NY Times Employees Indicted for Contempt of Congress

Dec 7,

1956

ACLU Attorney A.L. Wirin Ejected From HUAC Hearing

May 26,

1957

Paul Robeson Denied Passport – Gives London Concert by Phone

May 31,

1957

Famed Playwright Arthur Miller Convicted of Contempt of Congress

Jun 17,

1957

“Red Monday” – Supreme Court Limits Anti-Communist Measures

Jun 18,

1957

HUAC Chair to Supreme Court: “Bone Up on Communism”

Aug 28,

1957

Six Victims of 1692 Salem Witch Trials “Cleared” by Massachusetts Legislature

Jan 17,

1958

61 Chicago-area Notables Call for Abolition of HUAC

Jun 16,

1958

Supreme Court Affirms The Right to Travel

Jun 19,

1958

Joe Papp, Future Theater Great, Takes the Fifth Before HUAC – Is Fired by CBS

Aug 7,

1958

Playwright Arthur Miller’s HUAC Contempt Conviction Overturned

Mar 31,

1959

John Birch Society Head Denies Calling President Eisenhower a “Card-Carrying Communist”

Mar 27,

1961

ACLU Opposes Legislative Investigation of Right-Wing John Birch Society

May 1,

1961

Frank Wilkinson, Anti-HUAC Activist, Sent to Prison for Contempt of Congress

May 23,

1961

Emergency Civil Liberties Committee Denounces HUAC Investigation

Jan 19,

1962

RFK Memo on Cuba Demands Action to Remove Castro

Jun 28,

1962

John Henry Faulk Wins $3.5 Million Damages Award for Being Blacklisted

Jun 25,

1963

North Carolina Passes Campus Speaker Ban

Aug 1,

1963

President Kennedy Denounces U.S. Travelers to Cuba as “Communists”

Aug 26,

1963

First Unauthorized Traveler to Cuba Returns, Faces Federal Charges

Aug 19,

1964

U.S. Group Returns from Illegal Visit to Cuba

May 24,

1965

Supreme Court Strikes Down Postal Censorship Law

Jul 19,

1966

FBI Admits (to itself) That “Black Bag” Jobs (Burglaries) Are Illegal

Dec 13,

1968

Robert G. Thompson, Cold War Victim, Wins Posthumous Right to Burial at Arlington National Cemetery

Jun 4,

1974

“The List” is Ended: President Nixon Abolishes the Attorney General’s List of Subversive Organizations

Jan 27,

1975

Senate Creates Church Committee to Investigate Abuses by Intelligence Agencies

Feb 19,

1975

House Creates Pike Committee to Investigate Abuses by the CIA, other Agencies

Jul 1,

1975

David Saxon, Fired For Not Signing Loyalty Oath in 1950, Becomes President of University of California

May 24,

1976

“Hollywood on Trial” Shown at Cannes Film Festival

Oct 31,

2001

Massachusetts Exonerates Five Salem Witch Trial Victims – On Halloween !

Dec 17,

2014

President Obama Announces Plan To Normalize Relations With Cuba

Oct 10,

2015

CIA Documents Reveal Role of Chile in 1976 Assassination on U.S Soil and CIA Role in Cover-Up

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