The mid-twentieth century in the United States was characterized by a profound and pervasive psychological crisis, a period where the geopolitical anxieties of the Cold War were turned inward, transforming the American political landscape into a theater of suspicion. While historical shorthand often reduces this era to the singular figure of Senator Joseph R. McCarthy—a phenomenon termed "McCarthyism"—the reality was a far more complex, interlocking system of legislative inquisitions, executive mandates, and cultural purges that extended well beyond the actions of one junior senator from Wisconsin.