Vocabulary

McCarthyism-- This term is based on the actions of Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy during 1940s and 1950s.  This was a period in history when people were freaked out by communists because of the Cold War.
Example: McCarthyism signifies the extreme anti-Communist movement that occurred in the United States. People were accused of being communists, put in jail, fired, kept from being job, and sometimes worse.


The Red Scare-- The Red Scare is the applied term given to a time in which Americans feared Communist influence in the United States from 1917 to 1920.
Example: McCarthyism is associated with the Red Scare and often referred to as the Second Red Scare. McCarthyism brought about the Second Red Scare in the United States in the late 1940s. The scare was that Soviet Union would spread communists all over the world.


Espionage-- The practice of obtaining secrets (spying) from rivals or enemies for military, political, or economic advantage using illegal or unethical methods.
Example: For the United States, espionage was a fact of war. Information was a commodity just as important as steel or oil, and the United States worked hard to keep it protected. Despite the Soviet Union's wartime designation as an ally, Russian espionage had long been a concern for American political and military officials.


Containment-- Containment was a United States policy using military, economic, and diplomatic strategies to moderate the spread of Communism, and enhance America’s security and influence abroad. 
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, the Containment policy was a response to a series of moves by the Soviet Union to expand communist influence in Eastern Europe, China, Korea and Vietnam.


Reds-- It referred to Communists during the McCarthyism period.
Example: Joseph McCarthy was a Senator who ruined the careers of many people by calling them Communists, or "Reds", without sufficient proof. In 1950, Senator Joseph McCarthy began to accuse high-ranking US officials of being Communists, or of selling secrets to the Russians. Some government employees were found guilty of passing on secrets about the Atom Bomb. But McCarthy eventually lost popularity, and then power, as his accusations grew wider and cruder each day. All of this simply served to increase tension between the two superpowers, the US and the Soviet Union.

Bibliography

• http://www.shmoop.com/mccarthyism-red-scare/
• http://www.essortment.com/red-scare-mccarthyism-21546.html
• http://www.senatormccarthy.com/