Background+on+Play

. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s America was overwhelmed with concerns about the threat of communism growing in Eastern Europe and China . McCarthyism was paranoid hunt for communist infiltrators . A senator named Joseph McCarthy made a public accusation that more than two hundred "card-carrying" communists had infiltrated the United States government . Many writers and entertainers were labeled as communist sympathizers, and were unable to keep working .During this time there were few in the press willing to stand up against McCarthy and the anti-Communist machine . Few people were willing to stand up against McCarthy . Among those few were comedian Mort Saul, and journalist Edward R. Murrow, whose strong criticisms of McCarthy are often cited as playing an important role in his eventual removal from power . By 1954, many artists and writers were able to return to work . These are considered one of the most shameful moments in modern United States history