They began to abandon their sense of civic duty.
Alger Hiss was prosecuted and convicted as a Soviet spy.
Alger Hiss worked for the State Department and was convicted of perjury. This conviction labeled him a Soviet spy.
Joseph McCarthy was able to build off of the Hiss conviction by suggesting he had a list of other spies within the State Department. He created an investigation committee to expose the spies in the government. McCarthy was able to create hysteria around his supposed list. It was later found when McCarthy was investigated that he never had a list of spies.
The bostoniaons or as i should say the sons of liberty who threw out a lot of tea down the boston harbour because they had no representation.