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the Cold War wasn't just about faraway Europe in Asia. it also made a

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major impact on Americans at home. most Americans believed wholeheartedly in the [world map shown]

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so-called American Way. meaning democracy and capitalism. and or

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anything smothered in American cheese. point is many Americans were ready to

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prove to the world that we were a happy wealthy God-fearing and United people. if

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the US had to use its atomic weapons on the godless Soviet Union, then boy howdy [atomic bomb blast shown]

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that was how it had to be. most Americans didn't think it would come to that and

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they prayed it didn't they believed that the rest of the world would see how

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swell the American Way was and ally with fun Free America against the scary

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communist Soviet Union. well the u.s. claimed that communism was no match for [vintage article pictured]

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the American Way and turns out it was kind of right about that, but we're not

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in the 1990s yet. well despite u.s. confidence in its own superiority it was

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not completely confident in its own people .there were all kinds of stories

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about traitorous American citizens becoming Soviet spies and leakin all our [man in a lab frowns]

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atomic secrets to the Kremlin. well you couldn't tell who was a real American

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and who was a commie loving traitor it could be your own wife husband or golden

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retriever. this fear called the Red Scare even showed up in Hollywood horror

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movies a movie after movie from the 1940s through the 1950s told stories of [movie posters featuring aliens]

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aliens invading the earth, starting with America of course. well aliens

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apparently can't get enough in the u.s. though we're willing to bet the appeal

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there is not the American cheese. invasion of the body snatchers was the

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classic example. aliens who look just like regular folks sneak into every city

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killing people and taking their place. one lone American who has not yet been

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replaced tries to warn everyone else. can't you see everyone they're here [man runs through traffic]

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already you're next! well Americans who staggered

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out of movie theaters in a panic we're not scanning the skies for flying

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saucers, they were scanning their fellow

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moviegoers for hidden commies. from the excrement really hit the

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air-conditioning in 1950 turns out a guy named Alger Hiss [poop emoji hits air conditioning units]

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a member of the US State Department actually was a Soviet spy and had been

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one since 1940. but you'd think somebody would have suspected a guy named Alger

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Hiss. no doubt he was a Slytherin. yeah hisses arrest set off alarm bells across

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the u.s. .in response the house of in- American Activities Committee or HUAC

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was ramped up to root out every last communist hiding in the government the

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movies the schools and the local beauty parlor. Americans from all walks of life [vintage article on recognizing communists]

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were hauled before HUCA and forced to confess whether it was true or not that

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they were commies. well one of the main ringleaders of all this mania was

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Senator Joe McCarthy. he wasn't in HUAC why because he didn't have the seniority,

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but he joined another Senate committee called the permanent Subcommittee on

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investigations or PSI. from there he grabbed the national spotlight by using [Mr. McCarthy pictured]

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his a pulpit to accuse anyone on two legs of being a communist. while McCarthy

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might have had his moment of power, eventually everybody realized he was a

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power-hungry nut. today the term McCarthyism is used anytime paranoia

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turns into an outright witch-hunt that drags innocent people through the mud.

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you know that everyone else named McCarthy is still thanking Joe for that. [man walks through cemetery]

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