During the McCarthy era, hundreds of Americans were accused of being "communists" or "communist sympathizers so people were very fearful of opposing McCarthy.
Step-by-step explanation:
McCarthy looked to dishonor his faultfinders and political adversaries by blaming them for being Communists or socialist sympathizers in the United States that kept going generally from the late 1940s to the mid to late 1950s.
The term gets its name from U.S. Congressperson Joseph McCarthy, a Republican of Wisconsin. It turned into the subject of forceful examinations and addressing before government or private-industry boards, advisory groups, and organizations. So Truman's Secretary of Defense, George Catlett Marshall, was the objective of a portion of McCarthy's most disdainful talk.