Date |
International and National Events |
Events in Washington State |
1916 |
|
Everett Massacre |
1917 |
US enters World War I;
Bolshevik Revolution brings communists to power in Russia |
IWW (Wobbly) lumber workers strike on Olympic Peninsula |
1918 |
The Allies win World War I |
|
1919 |
Nationwide "Red Scare";
Palmer raids lead to the arrest and deportation of hundreds of radicals |
Failed Seattle General Strike;
Centralia Massacre;
Radical movement in Washington collapses as employers break unions and unions expel radicals |
1920s |
Politically conservative climate |
Politically conservative climate |
1929 |
Stock market crash;
start of Great Depression |
Depression hits Washington very hard |
1933 |
Adolf Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany;
Franklin Roosevelt becomes President of US |
Unemployment reaches 30%;
Communist Party grows slowly |
1935–36 |
Frightened by the rise of Nazism, the USSR seeks a "United Front" with capitalist nations;
Communists in the US endorse FDR's "New Deal" reforms |
Washington communists begin cooperating with liberals;
Communist Party grows rapidly |
1937–38 |
Nearly 500,000 Americans join Communist Party;
Communists have little power in national politics |
Communists elected to lead Washington Pension Union (WPU);
Roughly 10 communists elected to state legislature |
1939 |
Hitler and Stalin sign Nazi-Soviet Pact;
Germany and the USSR both invade Poland, starting World War II;
American communists oppose US entry into the war |
Disgusted by communists' cooperation with Hitler, thousands of people leave the Communist Party |
1941 |
Germany invades USSR;
Bombing of Pearl Harbor brings US into war;
US and USSR are allies in fight against Nazis |
Communists wholeheartedly cooperate in US war efforts;
Communist Party grows again |
1942–43 |
USSR wins important battles against Germany;
US wins important battles against Japan |
Washington economy grows at an incredible pace during wartime |
1945 |
USSR and US defeat Germany;
US defeats Japan by dropping 2 atomic bombs |
Plutonium for atomic bomb came from Hanford |
1946 |
USSR blocks free elections in Eastern Europe;
Relations between US and USSR grow tense |
Republicans win landslide victory with anti-communist campaign theme |
1947 |
President Truman issues "Truman Doctrine," committing US to contain world communism |
State legislature creates Canwell Committee |
Jan–Feb
1948 |
|
Canwell Committee holds hearings on communist influence in WPU |
June–July
1948 |
USSR blockades West Berlin;
Truman orders airlift of supplies into West Berlin to prevent communist take-over of city |
Canwell Committee holds hearings on communists in the Seattle Repertory Playhouse and University of Washington (UW) |
Oct–Dec
1948 |
Truman wins surprising reelection victory |
UW holds tenure hearings about 6 profs.;
4 of 6 members of Canwell Committee fail to win reelection;
Washington voters pass WPU-sponsored Initiative 172, creating a system of health care for the poor |
Jan–Mar
1949 |
US begins prosecution of Communist Partyleaders for conspiracy to overthrow the government |
UW Regents dismiss three professors and place three others on probation;
College presidents endorse the UW dismissals and begin to oust communists from teaching jobs; State legislature does not renew the Canwell Committee |
Aug–Sept
1949 |
USSR explodes its first atomic bomb;
US and 11 other capitalist democracies create NATO, a permanent military alliance;
Communists win Chinese Civil War |
Seattle Times publishes articles about the Canwell Committee's false accusations against UW Professor Melvin Rader |
1950 |
Communist North Korea invades South Korea;
US enters Korean War;
Senator Joe McCarthy gains national attention by claiming communists have infiltrated the government |
Washington voters repeal Initiative 172 |
Early
1950s |
McCarthyism at high tide—hundreds of actors, teachers, and govt. officials lose their jobs;
Increased military spending as US fights Korean War |
State legislature requires loyalty oaths for state employees and outlaws the Communist Party;
Boeing grows rapidly and uses profits from military sales to build 707 jetliner;
Hanford and military bases across the state grow rapidly |
1953 |
Ethel and Julius Rosenberg executed for selling atomic secrets to USSR;
Korean War ends |
Five Washington communists convicted of conspiracy to overthrow govt.;
WPU President William Pennock kills himself during trial |
1954 |
Army-McCarthy hearings lead the Senate to strip McCarthy of his power |
|
1955 |
|
Professors protest the UW's refusal to allow physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer to speak on campus;
UW professors challenge the legality of loyalty oaths |
Late
1950s |
Anti-communist fervor subsides;
US Supreme Court strengthens First Amendment protections;
USSR launches Sputnik satellite |
US Supreme Court overturns the conviction of Washington communists;
Boeing profits from "space race" |
1962 |
Cuban Missile Crisis |
Space-themed World's Fair in Seattle |
1964 |
US Supreme Court declares Washington's loyalty oaths unconstitutional |
|
1965 |
Vietnam War begins |
Military bases and Boeing grow rapidly |
Early
1970s |
US withdraws from Vietnam War;
Era of "détente" begins as US normalizes relations with China and signs arms control treaties with USSR |
Washington suffers a severe recession as Boeing lays off 100,000 workers and Hanford stops producing material for nuclear weapons;
Navy decides to build a major base for nuclear submarines at Bangor, Washington |
1979 |
Détente ends as USSR invades Afghanistan and US begins a military build-up |
Defense money again flows into Washington state |
1982 |
|
Hanford resumes production of plutonium |
mid-1980s |
Détente resumes as US and USSR sign more arms control agreements |
Hanford shuts down plutonium plants again; Mammoth effort to clean up nuclear waste at Hanford begins in 1987 |
1989–90 |
End of the Cold War;
Collapse of the USSR as Soviet republics and Eastern European nations seek independence |
|
1990s |
US slowly cuts military spending, but continues role as "global policeman"—deploying to troops to Persian Gulf, Bosnia, etc. |
Importance of military spending in state economy declines somewhat, but military spending still accounts for about 10% of all jobs in Washington state |