Crucible

it was in response to the panic caused by irrational fear of Communism during the Cold War which ultimately resulted in the anti-Communist hearings by Senator Joseph McCarthy which started on Feb. 3, 1953
Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy was an undistinguished member of the Senate until February 1950, when he made the public charge that 205 Communists had infiltrated the State department. Upon subsequent testimony before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, McCarthy proved unable to produce the name of any communists...