Q 01/05

Which Hollywood star told HUAC in 1953 that she had registered to vote as a Communist in 1936?

A) Judy Garland

B) Katharine Hepburn

C) Lucille Ball

D) Bette Davis

Answer · why

C) Lucille Ball

Lucille Ball said she had done it only to please her socialist grandfather. Desi Arnaz then told an I Love Lucy studio audience the whole story before...

Q 02/05

Arthur Miller's play The Crucible attacked McCarthyism by retelling which historical hunt for hidden enemies?

A) The Salem witch trials

B) The Spanish Inquisition

C) The Reign of Terror

D) The Dreyfus affair

Answer · why

A) The Salem witch trials

The Salem witch trials gave Miller his allegory for accusation without proof. In 1957 a judge found him guilty of contempt of Congress for refusing to...

Q 03/05

Which state did Joseph McCarthy represent in the Senate when he accused the State Department of harboring Communists?

A) Minnesota

B) Michigan

C) Indiana

D) Wisconsin

Answer · why

D) Wisconsin

Wisconsin voters first elected McCarthy in 1946, when he campaigned on an inflated war record. He held the seat until his death in 1957.

Q 04/05

Which CBS journalist used a 1954 episode of See It Now to challenge Senator McCarthy's methods on national television?

A) Walter Cronkite

B) Edward R. Murrow

C) Charles Collingwood

D) Eric Sevareid

Answer · why

B) Edward R. Murrow

Edward R. Murrow built the half-hour from excerpts of McCarthy's own speeches. The senator's televised reply weeks later only pushed his fading popula...

Q 05/05

Which silent-film legend had his US re-entry permit revoked in 1952 while sailing to a London premiere?

A) Charlie Chaplin

B) Buster Keaton

C) Erich von Stroheim

D) Stan Laurel

Answer · why

A) Charlie Chaplin

Charlie Chaplin, long accused of Communist sympathies, chose not to fight the order and settled in Switzerland. Hollywood gave him an honorary Oscar t...