In the time following the Second World War, Americans across the nation were shivering in fear of the new enemy that had risen: Communism. With journalists declaring China lost to communism, and the Soviet Union already developing an atomic bomb, many thought that the American government was in peril. This period of anxiety in the late 1940's to the early 1950's became known as “The Red Scare,” and was fueled further by the Cold War which had burst out in 1947. The intense fear of Communism at this time led many to go to extreme measures to keep themselves and their families safe from the reaches of Communism going as far as to accuse their neighbors, or even close friends, of being communists. The Red Scare eventually died down, but its effects were felt for years after. |