McCarthyism

Americans feared the power of the USSR. Not only were they a danger thousands of miles away in the Soviet Union, they were a danger in the US. Spies were sent and paid to steal American plans. In 1950, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were arrested and charged with being Soviet spies. Americans began to think they were surrounded by spies. Wisconsin Senator Joe McCarthy took advantage of these fears by claiming over two hundred government workers were communists. This claim led to the hunt of hundreds of suspected communists. The hunt was known as McCarthyism. Artists and entertainers around the country were black listed and were unable to find any work. In the end, over three hundred twenty artists were blacklisted. Their careers were destroyed because of Joe McCarthy and his paranoid hunt for communists hiding in the United States.

Why were Americans so quick to believe that their fellow citizens were communists?