The Soviets

In a 1946 letter to Secretary of State James Byrnes, President Harry Truman proclaimed, “I’m tired of babying the Soviets.” Once the United States’ strongest anti-Fascist ally, the Soviet Union was rapidly becoming its greatest enemy, and fears that the Soviets would have access to atomic weapons led to an unprecedented era of paranoia and spying. Oppenheimer was not the only Jewish American to be a target of anti-Communist proceedings, and as Communism continued to spread across Europe and Asia, suspicion at home only continued to escalate. This week we're joined by Dr. Jonathan Brent, CEO of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research.