Nope, it goes even further back -- to when Nixon, then a Congressman, sparkplugged the House Committee on Un-American Activities investigation that nailed Alger Hiss and sent that Commie traitor to jail. With Hiss's high position in the Roosevelt Administration and his virtual single-handed creation of the U.N., this was a terrible blow to Communist plans to subvert America. Hiss and Harry Dexter White (and others) revealed most American secrets -- including codes -- to Stalin.
Nixon ran against Gahagan Douglas for his Senate seat in 1950 and that campaign rubbed further salt in the already gaping wound. From the 1920s on the media have been saturated with Communists and fellow travelers. The anti-anti-communists could never rest until Nixon was destroyed. These days everyone goes by different names -- 'progressives' and 'environmentalists' mostly -- but it's the same old game with the same old game plan. The fellow travelers now use Agenda 21 to achieve what Hiss was hoping to do and their mantra is the same: "By any means necessary" -- even forging documents to bring down another President.
But no,the media was NOT "saturated" with Commies and fellow travelers from 1920 on down.Some in the media and in the "arts" were Commies/pinkos/fellow travelers from even earlier than the '20s;however,there wasn't quite the plethora of them then,as there are now.And Hollywood was NOT son lefty either.But that's whole 'nother topic and discussion. :-)
Isn't it interesting how the leftists in the media always ignores the fact that Bobby Kennedy was one of the lawyers investigating the commies for HUAC.