The Red Scare

In the early 1950s the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the U.S. began to really intensify. People became paranoid of the idea of having soviet communists in their society and overthrowing their democratic government. Communists were despised And looked down upon in society. These communists were called “Reds” because of their allegiance to the red soviet flag and thus came the name “The Red Scare”. The Red Scare led to mass hysteria within the U.S. and even in the U.S. government.

At the center of the Red Scare was Joseph McCarthy, senator of Wisconsin from 1947 to 1957. McCarthy took advantage of the U.S.’s fear and became a powerful figure in American politics through accusations and presenting himself as the only hope against communism in the United States.  It all started in February 1950 when McCarthy gave a speech at the Ohio County Women’s Republican Club in West Virginia where he claimed and singled out 205 state department employees to be communists. None substantial proof was found that any of the employees had affiliations with the communist party. Later on McCarthy conducted interviews with many more federal government employees, many of whom lost their jobs, and turned his accusations on the military. The military interviews were broadcasted on national TV, which proved to be his downfall. People saw how he berated and intimidated interviewees and the public opinion toward him became sour.

Once the hearings had concluded McCarthy had lost all of his allies and his witch hunt was brought to an end. McCarthy was condemned by the senate and said his actions were inexcusable, reprehensible, vulgar, insulting, and unbecoming of a senator. McCarthy kept his job but lost all his power with it. In 1957 he died at the age of 48 from alcoholism. From McCarthy we now have the word McCarthyism, which means the practice of making accusations of subversion or treason without proper regard for evidence.