Clay Risen on the Red Scare: McCarthyism's Lasting Impact on America

The Personal Toll of the Red Scare

• 🎭 Sterling Hayden, an actor known for roles like General Ripper, was forced to name names during the McCarthy era to retain custody of his children, leading to profound internal destruction despite external validation.
• 💔 His memoir, "Wanderer," reveals deep self-hatred stemming from his compliance, illustrating that the cost of the Red Scare extended beyond blacklisting to the destruction of consciences.
• 🍎 Similarly, Julius Lavati, a celebrated Bronx Science math teacher, was fired along with his wife simply for refusing to answer questions about his past associations, highlighting the widespread, often irrational, impact on ordinary lives.
• 📚 Even Lavati's middle school math primer was removed from libraries, deemed "communist math," underscoring the era's pervasive insanity.

The Red Scare's Historical Context and Drivers

• 💡 The Red Scare is presented not just as a reaction to genuine communist threats but as a cultural conflict and a reaction to the New Deal's expansive social and cultural remaking of America.
• 🏛️ President Harry S. Truman initiated the federal loyalty program, intending it as a bureaucratic check, but it metastasized due to a lack of guardrails and the escalating Cold War.
• 📈 Senator Joseph McCarthy capitalized on existing fears and a public already accustomed to the Red Scare, becoming a symptom rather than the sole cause of the era's extremism.
• 🤝 The political landscape was complex, with Republicans leveraging anti-communist sentiment for electoral gain, while Democrats grappled with internal divisions and the need to appease conservative Southern Democrats.

Institutional Failures and Civil Liberties

• 🚫 The Supreme Court, despite justices like Hugo Black and William O. Douglas advocating for civil liberties, often failed to form a majority against the Red Scare's excesses, with Earl Warren's later leadership being crucial in shifting the court's stance.
• ⚖️ Institutions like the ACLU and the American Bar Association largely retreated, fearing association with communism, though the ACLU later burnished its credentials by defending unpopular cases, learning from its past inaction.
• 🗣️ Margaret Chase Smith stands out for her early