What was McCarthyism?

Answer 1

~An early form of the Bush Administration and the Patriot Act. And it was bi-partisan, with Bobby Kennedy being one of the leading hatchet men.

Answer 2

McCarthyism was a wave of early Cold War paranoia in which there was a virtual witch hunt for communists in the United States. It is named after Senator Joe McCarthy, who publicly accused many prominent individuals in the 1950s with no proof; he was eventually discredited.

Answer 3

It's worth noting that McCarthy came to prominence alongside the House Un-American Activies Committee, also known as HUAC. HUAC was founded in the late 1930s to investigate both right and left wing political groups, including the KKK; after WWII, however, fears over communism escalated. McCarthy and HUAC fueled those fears with trials and often baseless accusations in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

Both Arthur Miller's play The Crucible and the recent film Good Night and Good Luck relate to the McCarthy trials.

Answer 4

Joe McCarthy was in charge of a commttee to investigate Communist infiltration of the U.S. government during the Cold War, circa 1950's. As often happens in situations like this, it was carried to extremes, and a number of careers were ruined, particularly among a number of Hollywood types. The irony is that there WAS a fair amouint at the time.The term has been applied since then to almost any sort of "witch hunt."

Answer 5

Joe McCarthy was a senator from Wisconsin who led a witchunt for communists in American society. The political climate at the time was such that even the accusation was enough to ruin your career and life in general. He engaged in fearmongering tactics to build up and maintain his own power.

Hmmm, sounds familiar, doesn't it?

Answer 6

The previous post was correct. That practice was started by Senator Josseph McCarthy from Wisconsin, and there were Senate Hearings in which many people, especially from show business, were called in to testify and asked if they were communists, or if they knew anyone who was a communist.

Answer 7

McCarthyism is unscrupulously accusing people of disloyalty as by saying they were Communists.

Answer 8

Joe McCarthy was a senator from Wisconsin who abused his position by threatening to expose thousands of Communists. He should have been branded a lunatic much earlier. Many government workers and Hollywood workers were abused by him.

I am ashamed he came from my home state.