1. The world was scared about communism in the years after World War II because there was not clear superpower in the world. Both the United States and the Soviet Union were very powerful, but they had opposite ideologies, which could lead to trouble. Moreover, people were scared that the negative aspects of communism could spread in the same way that Nazism did.
2. The fears of instability were justified. It did seem likely that the United States and the Soviet Union were going to clash in the near future. However, the fear of the ideology itself was not justified, as there is nothing intrinsically wrong with communism as an ideology.
3. He accused a great variety of Hollywood starts, including writers, directors, producers and actors. The fear eventually reached government workers, academicians and labor union activists.
4. They were investigated in several ways. They were the subjects of aggressive investigations and questioning both by the government and by private industry panels, committees and agencies. This often led to the loss of their reputation, their jobs, and sometimes their careers.
5. People were not allowed to openly support communism, or even socialist policies. They were also severely restricted in the people they could work with, the books they could read or the things they could write. Other social groups were similarly targeted, such as homosexuals.
6. It ended due to a combination of changes in social opinion and a series of court decisions and legal challenges.
7. McCarthyism is now seen as a word that expresses blatant disregard for privacy and free speech, and as a word to describe public accusations that have no merit or evidence to back them up.