American history is eventful with events and people that fit the recurring theme of tragedy and triumph. In the period between 1950 and 1954, terror spread throughout America and its population. Within a few years, America was in turmoil due to fears of communist influence infiltrating the American government or in extreme cases, eradicating American democracy and freedom altogether. A significant part of the United States Senate, Joseph McCarthy, decided to get involved and take action. However, McCarthyism showed the tragedy that happened to the American people but led to triumph in America. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Not even 5 years after World War II, the Cold War broke out. In 1947 the Cold War began between America and the Soviet Union over the spread of communism. The spread of communism scared Americans and the war began out of fear of the United States. During that time, the Soviet Union spread propaganda and other means to expand the idea of ​​communism. This brought fear to America. While this was happening, some Eastern European countries converted to communism, and Asian countries such as China, which was a world power, were now under the rule of communism. These sudden changes began to strike fear into the American people, who were convinced that communism would come to America and eventually dominate the world. Furthermore, not only did the United States face fear of communism throughout the world, but there was fear in America itself. In 1947, a man named Joseph McCarthy who served in the United States Senate decided to act on the situation. He gave a speech that put him in the national spotlight for telling the American people shocking information about the American government. He announced that he had a list that contained names of government officials who were members of the Communist Party. In response, he said, "Our job as Americans and as Republicans is to remove traitors from every place where they have been sent to do their treasonous work." Not only did it send America into chaos, but it also made Americans doubtful of other people, for fear of communists living among them. In addition to causing national paranoia, McCarthy took advantage of this, proclaiming that Communist spies lived among ordinary people and claiming to be America's only liberation. He sent the nation into pandemonium by indicting, first, low-level governors in connection with the Communist Party, then, eventually, working his way into government by indicting high-ranking and highly praised government officials. It was essentially a 1950s version of the Salem witch trials. The Supreme Court was in his favor at the time. However, this only lasted a short time. When McCarthy accused other ranking officials, he had to present decent evidence to bring it to court. Going through the list of suspects, “he cited 81 cases. He skipped several numbers and in some cases repeated the same inconsistent information. It proved nothing, but the Senate called for a thorough investigation.” Despite the fact that he presented his claims with insufficient evidence, this caused the American people to become more fearful and subsequently begin to distrust some governors and government officials. But one of the symbols linked to McCarthyism is the red scare. The Red Scare resulted in the fear that the American people had of the government and evolved into the fear of ordinary people. As McCarthyism grew, people believed that “the Communists could hide.