How Did The Cold War Influence The Practice Of Mccarthyism

During the Cold War the practice of McCarthyism in the United States ran rampant. McCarthyism is the accusation of an individual or group of people for being treasonous without proper evidence or general regard for the truth. More specifically, this pertained mostly to people promoting or sympathising with communist ideals. One of the primary targets for this practice was the entertainment industry. Screenwriters who wrote works that had any trace of communistic ideals were questioned severely and ultimately blacklisted from the industry. This severe and over-the-top solution to stopping these so-called communist spreaders frames just how great the general paranoia in America was at this time. With the spread of McCarthyism came censorship of the entertainment industry, a sweeping new movement of paranoia in the general public, and unfair accusations and punishments for people supposedly associated with the red party.
Accusations of these people being involved with the Communist party rendered them unable to produce any work. These people were named the Hollywood Ten. The Hollywood Blacklist was responsible for putting up to 150 people out of a job because of accusations involving Communism. This greatly censored what could have been a time of great new ideals and viewpoints on society in films during the 1960s. Screenwriters were not allowed to portray anything slightly Communistic for fear of being fired. Those who had been blacklisted were forced to write under pen names and not allowed to receive credit for their works. This strict censorship gave McCarthyism the perfect environment it needed to grow and expand throughout the United