The term Red Scare has been applied to two distinct periods of intense anti-communism in United States history: 1917-1920 and the early 1950s. Both periods were characterized by widespread fears of communist influence on US society and communist infiltration of the US government. These fears spurred aggressive investigation and (particularly during the 1917-1920 period) jailing of persons thought to be motivated by communist ideology or associated with communist or socialist political movements. The term is most often used in describing the political atmosphere surrounding domestic political persecutions and violations of civil rights, but can also describe the closely related Cold War fears of imminent attack on the United States or its allies by the Soviet Union or the People's Republic of China.

The term itself is arguably pejorative, belittling anti-communists by implying that their fears were overblown or hysterical.

Table of contents

1 The first Red Scare 2 The McCarthy period 3 Reactions to the Red Scare 4 Continuing controversy

The first Red Scare

The first major Red Scare in American history occurred directly after the Russian Revolution of 1917 which brought the downfall of the czars and rise of Lenin. Fears of a communist plan to similarly overthrow the government of the United States, triggered by a series of anarchist bombings in June of 1919, led to the Palmer Raids against anarchist, socialist, and communist groups, and the jailings of left-wing activists such as Eugene V. Debs using the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918.

The McCarthy period

The Red Scare reappeared during the McCarthy era from 1948 to the mid-1950s. During the late 1940s several sensational news events caught the public attention, including the trial of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg for treason (which resulted in their heavily publicized executions); the acquisition of an atomic bomb by the Soviet Union which spelled the end of the United States' monopoly on nuclear weapons technology; and the beginnings of the Korean War. Events such as these had a noticeable effect on the opinions of Americans in general about their own safety and security, and they gave rise to a subtle feeling of paranoia that centered upon a supposedly inevitable nuclear war with the Soviet Union, and the idea that a vast conspiracy of communist spies and sympathisers was constantly working to bring the downfall of the American people.

The Red Scare hysteria manifested itself in several ways, notably through the actions of the House Un-American Activities Committee, the rise of Senator Joseph McCarthy, and the acceleration of the arms race. Propaganda films like Red Nightmare were commissioned to further popular fears of communism and the Soviet Union.

It also had subtle effects on America's way of life, contributing to the popularization of fallout shelters in home construction. It can also be seen as one factor that contributed to the rise and popularity of science fiction films during the 1950s and beyond. Many thrillers and science fiction movies of the period used a theme of a sinister, inhuman enemy that was planning to infiltrate society and destroy the American way of life. (One of the best examples of this is the classic film Invasion of the Body Snatchers.)

Reactions to the Red Scare

Many Americans responded to the cruder manifestations of the Red Scare by dismissing all claims by anti-communists concerning the enormity of communist atrocities overseas or infiltration in the United States. Though many of the more outré accusations of the McCarthy period—such as the claim that President Dwight D. Eisenhower was a communist—now seem laughable, the opening of Soviet historical archives following the collapse of the Soviet Union has provided evidence for less grandiose accusations, such as the claim by Whittaker Chambers that Alger Hiss worked for Soviet intelligence. Similarly, reports of mass murders committed by communist states including the Soviet Union under Josef Stalin, China under Mao Zedong, and Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge—once dismissed as anti-communist propaganda—are now well-documented in the historical record.

Continuing controversy

Though the interpretation of the Red Scare might seem to be of only historical interest following the end of the Cold War and the near-disappearence of communism as a popular ideology, the political divisions it created in the United States continue to manifest themselves, and the politics and history of anti-communism in the United States are still contentious. One source of controversy is that actions taken against the radical left during Palmer and McCarthy periods are viewed as providing a historical template for similar actions against radical Muslimss following the September 11th terrorist attacks, an analogy made explicitly both by left-wing opponents of such actions as the American Civil Liberties Union and right-wing proponents such as Ann Coulter.