The correct answer is: "
people felt a pressure to conform to avoid suspicion".
Joseph McCarthy (1908 – 1957) served as a Republican US Senator who served on behalf of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957. He became specially visible in public affairs during the emergence of the tensions against communism and the Soviet Union after WWII, during the so-called Red Scare.
He constantly warned that many communist spies from the URSS had been introduced in the US institutions, in the federal goverment, in the universities, etc. He performed smear campaigns against certain personalities that he considered suspicious for supporting comunism(that were censured by the Senate) and many other anti-communist activities that were grouped under the denomination "McCarthyism".
The correct answer should be People felt a pressure to conform to avoid suspicion
Everyone was afraid of being branded as a communist and it could happen because of anything. Those people would then have various issues in their lives even though.
No. Logically, yes we can do anything we want to since its a free country... but there will still always be some sort of penalty like for example jail.