McCarthyism was the general name of political actions, unscrupulous investigative methods and creating an atmosphere of fear and suspicion in the fight against the "internal communist threat" in the years from 1950 to 1954 in the United States by Senator Joseph McCarthy. He initiated a campaign to research the loyalty of employees of government administration, universities, the army and other public life institutions, and to counteract "communist infiltration" among these social groups.
These activities consisted in questioning people on a list drawn up on the basis of McCarthy's personal and usually unsubstantiated suspicions. In the case of refusal to cooperate, in the form of giving the names of other people suspected of supporting or having relationships with members of the Communist Party, their careers were violated. In the case of people employed in private enterprises, it consisted in sending reports to their employers, and in the case of government employees, issuing negative opinions about their admission to state secrets.
