In the 1950s, Senator Joseph McCarthy was the public face of a period in which Cold War tensions fuelled fears in the United States of widespread Communist subversion. McCarthy believed Soviet spies and sympathizers had infiltrated the US federal government, universities and even extended into Hollywood. But why did America fear communism so much? Who was McCarthy? Why were so many film stars and writers targeted? Rob Weinberg puts the big questions about this critical period to Dr. Mitch Goodrum of Canterbury Christ Church University.

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