McCarthyism

Since Joseph McCarthy’s name has become synonymous with persecution and the suppression of dissent, is it accurate to describe the so-called ‘Red Scare’ as McCarthyism? What other factors were there to explain this intolerance?

On the 29th of June 1940, The United States Congress passed the Alien Registration Act, making it illegal for anyone in the US to advocate, abet, or teach the desirability of overthrowing the government. The main aim of the Alien Registration Act was to weaken the American Communist Party and other left-wing political groups in the United States. In 1947 the House of Un-American Activities Committee began an investigation into the Hollywood Motion Picture Industry. It was not until 1950 that Senator Joseph McCarthy made an appearance, and yet it seems the concept of ‘McCarthyism’ was emerging a decade earlier.
The Alliance with the Soviet Union during World War Two was an uneasy one, and as soon as the war ended right-wing Republicans accused t...