In 1954 protesting against the rash actions of Senator Joseph McCarthy. Senator McCarthy, infamously known as a witch hunter, accused many innocent citizens of being Communists, Communist supporters, or anti-anti-Communists, which in turn caused these people to feel betrayal by their own country, paranoia in everyone, and even fear of McCarthy himself. These mentioned people would lose their jobs immediately, be given punishments without due process of law, and maybe be interrogated.
This period of time was named the Red Scare for the following two reasons: calling someone “Red” means calling them a Communist and two, the fear of the American citizens.