McCarthyism

Named for the US Senator Joseph McCarthy, a Republican of Wisconsin, McCarthyism was a period of intense anti-communism in the United States primarily from 1950 to 1954, when the U.S. government was actively engaged in countering American Communist Party subversion, its leadership, and others suspected of being Communists or Communist sympathizers. During this period people from all walks of life became the subject of aggressive "witch-hunts," often based on inconclusive or questionable evidence. It grew out of the Second Red Scare that began in the late 1940s.

Alleged victims of McCarthyism

Persons who were alleged to have been victims of McCarthyism were either denied employment in the private sector or failed government security checks.

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Some of those alleged to have been blacklisted were:

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• David Bohm, Physicist
• Charlie Chaplin, Actor
• Aaron Copland, Composer of modern tonal music
• Dashiell Hammett, Author
• Lillian Hellman, Playwright and left-wing activist
• Arthur Miller, Playwright and essayist
• Paul Robeson, Actor, athlete, singer, writer and political and civil rights activist and winner of Stalin Peace Prize
• Waldo Salt, Screenwriter, government employee & CPUSA member.
• Paul Sweezy, Marxian economist and founder-editor of Monthly Review

The nature of some of these people's involvements in the Communist Party has changed in light of the opening of Comintern Archives, KGB Archives and NSA Archives.

Related Topics:
Comintern - KGB - NSA

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