McCarthyism

· the early 50’s in USA are often known as McCarthyism, a by-product of the cold war, when the people feared being attacked by nuclear weapons, spreading communism and this was also period of spies and secret agents

· General Joseph McCarthy commanded troops in the Korean war and was well-known for his strong hate of communists; because of his agressive military strategy he was relieved from the command

· he continued his career as a politician and was a chief of the US House of Representatives Committee of Un-American Activities; he became famous with his list of 200 communist in state department and he continued to blame hundreds of people of being member of the Communist party; he was accusing like he was mad and lost all of his popularity

· this persecution of former communists culminated when the Hollywood Ten (American writers who refused to answer whether they had been members of a communist party) were prisoning and later couldn’t be employed anywhere; between years 1947-1954 214 Hollywood workers were accused of membership in the C. party and they had to squeal on others