The term McCarthyism was derived from the actions of the well known Senator Joseph McCarthy in the early 1950's. It was used as means of reckless and unfair accusations in the name of suppressing political disloyalty within the government in the 1950's. These actions of McCarthy combined with the communist expansion and the Korean War made the public fear and this led to a Renewal of the Red Scare.
What is the Red Scare?
The Red Scare is the promotion of fear of a potential rise of communism. The first Red Scare was in 1919-1921 and then the second Red Scare was from 1947-1954. Communism. Communism is when a system of social organisations control all of the social and economic activity of a state which is dominated by a self political party.