McCarthyism
During the late 1940s and throughout the 1950s, Communism was a terrifying reality that the U.S. government had to face. The government was scared of American Communists more than any other type of Communist in the world. They believed that the American Communist was going to try to convert the United States into a “red” nation. Seeing that the nation was in distress, a young Senator named Joseph McCarthy made a public accusation that more than two hundred communists had infiltrated the United States government. McCarthy was accusing politicians and famous people alike. All of these people that he accused were sent to court and eventually jailed. The interesting part of his accusations was that almost all of the convicted weren’t Communists at all. The strong Anti-Communist group was so powerful that few journalists dared to defy their power. Many of the journalists that did try to expose the group’s lies were often called Communists and were thrown in jail. McCarthy eventually reached the limit to his power and was stopped. He tried to accuse Supreme Court Judges and several other high ranking political powers as Communists and the government knew he was lying. McCarthy was finally stopped, but not before many politicians and celebrities were black booked forever.