Isolationism In Ww2

Many Americans going into WWII still didn’t want to join the fight because they were isolationists and didn’t see what was happening as our problem. After the war when the Soviet Union and the US went head to head competing to influence people with their way of life some sought after the other side. Isolationists could have felt betrayed in regards to if the US really valued their perspective. Also the lower class may have felt betrayed just in general and could have sympathised with the communists just to try something new. The US really didn’t want anyone who could have questioned our government which is things like the House Un-American Activities Committee was around. People also saw some Hollywood stars who had people's attention to be sympathisers with the Soviets. The Soviets really targeted the lower class/isolationists, Hollywood, and Government officials.

As discussed throughout the year whenever a rising power wants control they target the common man. So it would make sense for the communists to focus on the neglected in the US during this period. Since they wanted to infiltrate our government and turn it to favor the Russians, they were looking for any support to help get them there. So isolationists could have been a target here as well as the poor because

these people were neglected in WWII and the poor just in general. Since these people were probably most likely looking for some alternative. This would make sense if we were to follow how most people came to power, by targeting the average citizen. Hitler did it to gain popularity in the 1930’s which only just happened at the time of the start of the Cold War.

Many thought that Hollywood stars were also targets because they had so much popularity that maybe some of their fans would listen to them.

This is where the House Un-American Activities Committee came in. They had a whole Hollywood blacklist bashing many actors and actresses and even people who worked on the sets. Wartime films were even being viewed as pro-Soviet because no one could be trusted. That’s when anti-soviet movies started to get pumped out to sway people that were right. Eventually 300 artists would join the Hollywood blacklist which caused many to change their names or leave to the US to find work. Not many were fortunate enough to rebuild their careers after being put on this

list.

The Government was also thought to be ridden with spies from the Soviets. The House Un-American Activities Committee also played a role here into testing every government official to see if they were pro-American. They looked into every committee trying to find if any seemed even slightly pro-Soviet. Again, many had their reputation ruined because of these investigations. No one was safe from being looked into so they had to prove that they were really pro-American. Everyone was trying to prove they were the most anti-communist so they would call everyone else communists because they weren’t pro-American enough.

The Soviets really targeted the lower class/isolationists, Hollywood, and Government officials. These were probably the people they wanted to influence the most because they either had great power or were in a position of being easily persuaded. The Soviets were basically going after the weakest links by targeting the lower class and isolationists. Also going after people of great power would help with swaying average people since they were icons in society. The lower class and isolationists were probably the most upset about WWII which is what would cause they to turn towards the Soviets. Hollywood and Government officials were just necessary to have to complete the Soviet takeover of the US in their grand scheme. Looking through trends in history these people would be the most logical to target in order to gain popularity for your specific cause.