[walford]

'McCarthyism' is now a smear word for anyone who holds the conviction that Marxism/Leninism is bad.

Let us remember the context of under which the MeCarthy hearings took place. We just got finished fighting a war in Asia because of an expansionist communist state invaded its neighbor. We fought Chinese on the ground and Russians in the air.

Prior to that, after shedding much blood and treasure to prevent a fascist dictatorship from taking over much of Europe, we saw our Soviet 'allies' exploit the situation by installing their own puppet governments from where the Nazis were ousted.

My father tells me that when he was stationed in Germany in the mid-fifties, he and the other dog-faced soldiers were given the impression that tanks from the east could come rolling in at any minute. I'm old enough to remember the hair-trigger tension that existed between us and the USSR back in the bad old days.

What is 'McCarthyism' to you?

[Iris7]

Nicely written reply.

[Tai_Chung]

'McCarthyism' is now a smear word for anyone who holds the conviction that Marxism/Leninism is bad.

The smear campaign against McCarthyism is not unlike the smear campaign against the Bush Administration in the handling of suspected terrorists.

In the 1950's, we needed to investigate communist infiltrating the US entertainment industry, government, Labor Unions, and private industry. Communism was the biggest threat against the US and it would have been foolish for the US ignore it.