Joseph McCarthy was a U.S. senator in the mid twentieth century, whose great fear of the rising communist party in both the Soviet Union and in America was reflected by a great deal of the country. Almost instantly after the end of World War Two, the tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union began to tear away at the thin bond formed by the two counties' alliance in the war. McCarthy and many other republican politicians believed that the democratic party, along with President Harry S. Truman, were not harsh enough on the communist party and they strongly opposed Roosevelt's New Deal. When the Republicans took control of the presidency in 1952, "McCarthyism," as it is now known, spun out of control into a witch hunt-like frenzy that imprisoned everyone from politicians to film producers because of feared communist ties.
The anti-Communist hysteria that was taking control of the U.S.
"Tituba and the Children"
"The witch no. 1" lithograph
The Pickman House, Back view that abuts the Salem ...came as a result of many different factors following the end of World War Two. Initially, there was a debate over the distribution of the Polish government in 1945, followed by the Soviet Union's pressure upon Turkey and Iran in 1946. The Greek Civil War in 1947, the Communist tactics in Czechoslovakia and the blockade of Berlin, Germany in 1948 added to the already culminating angers of the U.S. towards the USSR. Finally, the Communist takeover in China, the USSR's detonation of an atomic bomb in 1949, and the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950 all led the U.S. to not only distrust, but to fear any communist-related groups either in the USSR or the U.S.
All of these events occurring in every corner of the globe amassed to a nation wide hysteria to rid the United States of all things that could be considered communist related.