I still have not seen a convincing reason on why the red scare stopped.
It seems like Americans just stopped worrying about it and laughing these people out of power.
Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator; you've done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?
McCarthy embarrassed himself at the Army-McCarthy meetings on TV, which turned public opinion against him.
Really, the Red Scare just slinked into the background, the John Birchers kept a little bit of that fire going on in the background. It’s still popular to accuse Dems of being communists. (And you might have noticed states starting to ban fluoride…)
The obvious answer to this for many years was, no. And it wasn't just one guy running the red scare so getting called out on it publicly once is something that shouldn't have stopped the political tide.
This time is the most recent witchhunt in US history and the fact that it stopped so suddenly and reversed course so drastically gives me hope. Even though it ruined so many peoples lives.
Still however, I think there could be some good lessons in how this movement ended to the people that weren't alive for it and after reading a few books and watching some films on it I still don't really know why it ended.
Hell, it looks like there’s McCarthy defenders today. Just saw this in the wild.
McCarthy was the Second Red Scare even - the First went after folks like Eugene V Debbs. If you’ve heard the “fire in a crowded theater” exception to free speech, that was in response to the danger of communists handing out anti-WW1 literature.
McCarthy was the poster boy, canary in the coal mine, and fall guy for the US government's full on assault on Citizens rights.
McCarthy didn't influence Esienhower, the FBI, the CIA, or the judicial system. There was a stronger cultural force at play than one man had the power to control.
McCarthy was a bastard who ruined many good people. But the second red scare is a much better term for the period because it was much bigger than him.
BTW, this is an interesting subject to me since I think it's partly happening now again. So if you have any recommendations on things to read or watch about this time I'll gladly consume it.
Hofstadter‘s The Paranoid Style in American Politics is from 1964, but timeless.
I also really like the podcast Knowledge Fight. They mainly cover Alex Jones, but a lot of the current landscape is a mix of John Bircher society stuff reheated and served alongside 4chan/8chan deliberate trolling with the Russian troll farm content which is indistinguishable. Behind the Bastards often has figures which are relevant.
I think it can also be helpful to look at the roots of the Qanon movement by looking at the 80’s Satanic Panic. The Satan Seller about Mike Warnke is about the way that people can make a career about claiming to have sacrificed babies to the devil, and how willingly people will eat that up.
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