The fact that McCarthyism was so widespread and powerful tells us that American anxiety was extremely strong back then. After the World War II, the U.S. were victorious, but so were the Soviets. So, the two great economic and political powers opposed each other from the ideological point of view: communist vs. capitalist propaganda took place. McCarthyism didn't just try to protect the American way of life and capitalist ideology. It ascertained that everyone who wasn't for it was in fact against it, thereby declaring enemies everywhere, instilling fear and paranoia into every citizen. In the course of establishing the cultural notion of "American dream", the red anti-capitalist discourse (which had already been present in popular culture) was unwelcome and had to be banished.
One of the main arguments used to support US military involvement in Vietnam was the fear that if Vietnam fell to communism, other nations in Southeast Asia could as well.
