McCarthyism is a term used in reference to accusations of disloyalty, subversion or treason, without due respect to a fair legal process where the rights of the accused are respected.

It originates in an episode in the history of the United States that took place between 1950 and 1956 during which Senator Joseph McCarthy unleashed an extended process of statements, unfounded accusations, denunciations, interrogations, irregular processes and blacklists against people suspected of being communists. The sectors that opposed the irregular and indiscriminate methods of McCarthy denounced the process as a "witch hunt".

People from the media, the government and some soldiers were accused by McCarthy of being suspected of Soviet espionage or of sympathizers of communism. Relying on forces of anti-communist enthusiasts, feeding on the denunciation, he acquired considerable power. The methods were inconceivable for a democracy. Forgetting the legal principle of the presumption of innocence, before any denunciation the Committee of the Senate, chaired by McCarthy, applied the presumption of guilt and it was the accused who had to deny and prove his non-belonging or sympathy for the Communist Party.

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