Worksheets and No Prep Teaching Resources Reading Comprehension Worksheets Cold War (1947-1991)

The Red Scare Cold War (1947-1991)

---

The Red Scare
Print The Red Scare Reading Comprehension with Sixth Grade Work

Print The Red Scare Reading Comprehension


Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 6 to 8
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	7.17

Vocabulary

	challenging words:		anti-war, blacklist, communism, helping, witch-hunt, testify, unreasonable, entertainment, belonging, accuse, guilty, democratic, participate, government, during, view
	content words:		Cold War, Red Scare, Leonard Bernstein, West Side Story, To Kill, Pete Seeger, Have All, Flowers Gone, Senator Joseph McCarthy, American Communist Party

---

The Red Scare By Sharon Fabian

---

¹     During the Cold War years, Americans feared communism. We were afraid that communists would sneak in and take over our government. Recent events had given us reasons to be afraid. Communists were taking over in another large country - China. They were gaining ground in Korea and other places too. Then, some American citizens were found guilty of spying for the communists. Soon, whenever people heard a neighbor talking about communism, they listened closely. Could this neighbor be a communist too?
 
²     Suspicions spread until, soon, people everywhere were being accused. A reasonable fear had turned into an unreasonable witch-hunt. People were accused of being a communist, of helping communists, of spying for the communists, of meeting with communists, and of agreeing with communist ideas. These suspicions and accusations had serious results. People suspected of having communist beliefs were called in to testify before the government. Many lost their jobs and their good reputations.
 
³     The Red Scare really took hold in Hollywood. Employers in the entertainment industry there had a list of people who might have some ties to communism. It was called a blacklist. Anyone whose name appeared on the blacklist would not be hired to work in the entertainment industry. After the blacklist came out, hundreds of actors, musicians, and writers could not find work.

Paragraphs 4 to 9:
For the complete story with questions: click here for printable

---

Weekly Reading Books

Create Weekly Reading Books Prepare for an entire week at once!

---

Feedback on The Red Scare

Leave your feedback on The Red Scare   (use this link if you found an error in the story)

---

Cold War
(1947-1991)

Cold War (1947-1991)

---

United States

United States

American Government         Black History and Blacks in U.S. History         Children in History         Government Careers         Hispanic Heritage         How Can I Help?

Immigration         National Parks and Monuments         Native Americans         Presidents of the United States         Women's History

---

United States History

A Nation Divided (1840-1861)         A New Nation (1776-1830)         After the Civil War (1865-1870)         American Revolution         Cold War (1947-1991)         Colonial America (1492-1776)         Lewis and Clark (1804-1806)         Pearl Harbor         Spanish American War (1898)         The 1890's         The 1900's         The 1910's         The 1920's         The 1930's

The 1940's         The 1950's         The 1960's         The 1970's         The 1980's         The 1990's         The 2000's         The Civil War (1861-1865)         The Great Depression (1929-1945)         The United States Grows (1865-1900)         The War of 1812         Wild, Wild West         World War I (1914-1918)         World War II

---

50 States

Fifty States Theme Unit

---

Document Based Activities

Document Based Activities

Copyright © 2018 edHelper