McCarthyism was a campaign led by Joseph McCarthy to seek out members or supporters of the Communist Party in the 1940s and 1950s. Along with the help of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) and Roy Cohn, the three worked tirelessly to find and expose communists in the American community. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay McCarthyism began around the time of the Cold War, in the mid-1940s. HUAC was created shortly before the war in 1938. The House Committee on Un-American Activities used fear and distrust of people in the community to expose communists. The Cold War was not a real war in the sense that there was hand-to-hand combat between the Soviet Union and the United States. The war can best be described as a nuclear arms race, aimed at establishing deterrence with superior firepower. During this “war,” there was growing hysteria over the threat of communism in the United States (history.com). This was known as the Red Scare. The Red Scare left Americans threatened because they believed that if the Soviet Union took control of the arms race, the pursuit of communism would overthrow the American government. This sense of paranoia increased when the Soviet Union exploded its first atomic bomb in 1949. On October 1 of that year, China was declared a communist nation under Mao Zedong. The United States also participated in the Korean War the following year (1950-1953) to fight North Korea's communist supporters. The rise of communism in powerful countries pushed American citizens over the edge and caused severe paranoia and suspicion of communist activity and spies in the United States. Senator Joseph McCarthy took advantage of this state of hysteria in the United States by intimidating and accusing people of supporting the Communist Party. McCarthy spoke before a crowd on February 9, 1950 claiming that 205 State Department workers were Communists or supported the Communist Party. Senator McCarthy's speech in Wheeling, West Virginia is known as the beginning of McCarthyism (history.com). McCarthyism focused primarily on the people in power. Entertainers, government employees, and high-ranking officials were the people in question. Alleged supporters could face severe, life-altering punishments. Even though many times there wasn't enough evidence to actually find them guilty, the suspicion was enough to ruin their reputation. These people would be prosecuted by Roy Cohn, a New York lawyer. Cohn worked as chief counsel for the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations and became known for his intense interrogations. HUAC, Cohn, and McCarthy all worked together to fight the communists in the United States when in reality they were just ruining the reputations of thousands of people (pbs.org). However, McCarthy did not remain in power forever. Eventually his colleagues began to question the tactics he used to bring down the communist threat in the country. The Secretary of the Army gathered evidence from phone calls between Roy Cohn and Joseph McCarthy harassing and threatening officials. The Army lawyer, Mr. Welch, even said: “…Have you no sense of decency, sir? Do you finally have no sense of decency?” (Miller, David). McCarthy's investigation was followed by millions of people and publicized across the country. However, at his peak, McCarthy had many supporters. His support group was generally made up of people who feared McCarthy or genuinely feared the.