McCarthyism
Ever since communism became a world power the Americans held it in suspicion. In 1938 an organisation called the House Un-American Activities Committee. Its purpose was to investigate any organisation or person who the American government considered “communist”, as the Americans thought that communist philosophy would eventually destroy the American way of life. The Committee was most powerful during the late 1940s to mid 1950s, although it remained in existence for a few more years. They felt that any criticism, no matter how small, of the American government, meant that the criticiser was communist. People considered such were brought before the committee as communist sympathisers and were forced to be witnesses condemning others, even if the crime they had committed had taken place up to twenty years ago. Innocents found it almost impossible to prove innocence, and many liberal actors etc. found it impossible to work for the American film and theatre industries ever again.
