The McCarthy era
The McCarthy era takes its name from Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy. As a political stunt before his planned reelection campaign, McCarthy claimed to have a list of 205 workers in the State Department who were "known members of the American Communist Party" in 1950. A faction in the government quickly drew to him and mass hysteria ensued in the public; accusations and searches for communism spread throughout the United States. McCarthy was promoted to chairman of the Government Committee on Operations of the
Senate. He worked with the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA) to orchestrate more thorough investigations towards accusations of communism. Many of these accusations were made by him against various government departments and citizens; a plethora of those accused were later proven innocent. Arthur Miller was one of such accused persons. Once found guilty in bias-ridden reactive trials, those accused would be forced to "confess" to their supposed views and name others like them. Failure to do this was answered with blacklisting and denial of employment. After proposing investigations for communism into the military, McCarthy lost support from President Dwight D. Eisenhower and the Army. This gave reassurance to many critics who began to publicly derogate him with their writings. All of this led up to McCarthy's demotion in the Senate and loss of public influence in 1954. He died of cirrhosis in 1957, and this is believed to be from heavy drinking.
America's atmosphere at the time gave way to McCarthy's tactics; the Cold War was underway in the 1950s. Americans feared subversion, invasion, or even nuclear war from the Soviet Union. This military standoff inspired much hatred of Russia's political views in America. Communism, the fundamental basis for the Soviet Union's government, was seen as totally erroneous if not treasonous in the United States. Thus, fears and spite (and a great deal of propaganda) led Americans to fall easily into belief of McCarthy's claims.
America's atmosphere at the time gave way to McCarthy's tactics; the Cold War was underway in the 1950s. Americans feared subversion, invasion, or even nuclear war from the Soviet Union. This military standoff inspired much hatred of Russia's political views in America. Communism, the fundamental basis for the Soviet Union's government, was seen as totally erroneous if not treasonous in the United States. Thus, fears and spite (and a great deal of propaganda) led Americans to fall easily into belief of McCarthy's claims.