Rapid changes in the world situation during the late 1940s contributed to fears that communist espionage had undermined American security. The Soviet Union's completion of its own atomic bomb and successful testing in 1949, sooner than Americans had expected, was a terrifying surprise to Americans. One that was attributable, at least in part, to spies in the U.S. working for the Soviet Union. Two of those accused of espionage, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, were sentenced to death and executed in 1953. But the suspicion sown of communist infiltration would pervade the decade.
1949 was critical for another reason. That year Mao Zedong led a communist revolution in China that defeated the forces of Chiang Kai-shek, who had been America's client. These two rival Chinese armies, one led by Mao Zedong and the other by Chiang Kai-shek, had actually been at odds for a generation.
But they had postponed their war to fight their common enemy, the Japanese. during the invasion of the 1930s and early 1940s. American post-war aid to Chiang Kai-shek could not change the course of events by bolstering Chinese support for Chiang.
Instead, he retreated to Taiwan and defended it with the help of the U.S. Navy. Still, anti-communist Republicans in Congress denounced President Truman for what they called the loss of China. This marked the beginning of the Red Scare, the collective anxiety in America that the country was under threat by the global spread of communism.
And yet, paradoxically, as we'll see, the 1950s marked the single most prosperous decade. To that point, American history. This was also the era of the spread of the automobile throughout American society.
It was the era of the 57 Chevy and the introduction of the Corvette. Even more pervasive was the spread of the television as well as air conditioning. Americans were more well-informed and more comfortable.
than they had ever been. And they spread out from the cities to live in the suburbs, to travel across states, or even across the country to go on a vacation. And they bought any number of household appliances.
And still, the fear remained. This was the paradox at the heart. of the 1950s.