Mccarthyism

In the 1950's just years after World War ll ended, the fear of communism grew rapidly. It all started in 1950 as Wisconsin Senator Joseph R. McCarthy gave a speech in Wheeling, West Virginia that claimed that he knew of 205 people that were in the State department that were strong members of the Communist Party. The 205 people on that list were on the security risk list which could have been for another reason other than communism. Many of the people on the list didn't even work for the state department any longer. Mr. McCarthy later changed his statement to 57 people on the State Department that were of the Communist Party.