communism

Although very few cases did go to trial, two very high profile espionage cases did make it to trial.
             The first of these cases would be the Alger Hiss trial. Alger Hiss was placed on trial for accusations dating back to the 1930's. Throughout the trial, he stated that he had never belonged to the Communist Party and the only evidence that the FBI had were the allegations by Whittaker Chambers. Chambers would eventually bring forth paper documents supporting his allegations, but due to the statue of limitations on espionage all Hiss could be tried for was perjury (Schreker p.36). Hiss was convicted on January 21, 1950 and his verdict not only proved that communists had infiltrated the government but also the effectiveness of a congressional investigation (Schreker p.36). The second major espionage trial during this period was the Rosenberg case. Ethel Rosenberg's brother, David Greenglass who had been caught taking documents out of Los Alamos, brought the Rosenberg's to light. David named Julius Rosenberg, Ethel's husband, as a spy. Julius would deny everything causing the FBI to bring in Ethel, who knew about her husbands work but was not a spy herself, to compel a testimony out of her husband. The couple denied the charges and where convicted and sentenced to death. The death sentence was meant to scare a confession out of the Rosenberg's but both of them went to their deaths proclaiming their innocence.
             The threat of communism also brought about the search for communists and anyone who at one point had been affiliated with the Communist Party throughout the government. This was done in two ways: the loyalty security program and the Attorney Generals list. The loyalty security program was enacted to keep politically unfavorable employees out of jobs and to ensure that employees who already were working were not engaging in any activities that would appear to be disloyal to their country.