Fear is sometimes more powerful than weapons.  This may have been true in the early 1950s.  When the Soviet Union detonated an atomic bomb in the late 1940s and then a Hydrogen bomb in the early 1950s, Americans became fearful that the Soviets were expanding much like Hitler did in the 1930s.  That fear was amplified by some politicians; most notably Joseph McCarthy (pictured) of Wisconsin.  McCarthy was the chair of the Senate Committee on Un-American Activities and he accused citizens, actors, directors, teachers and professors of being a communist.  He believed there was a imminent communist invasion.  He ruined many lives. His behaviour caused another Red Scare in American from about 1950 - 1955.  The fear subsided when McCarthy died in 1957 at the age of 48.  He died from complications from alcoholism.