The Broadcast Century and Beyond, 4th Edition

The Fearful 50s

Broadcasting and Blacklisting—A Decade of Shame

The Cold War that followed the hot war of 1939–1945 generated continuing audiences for media news, with the media exulting in their exacerbation of the confrontational atmosphere between the U.S. and the Soviet governments and people. The 1950s were a time when demagoguery and fear were rampant, both resulting from and engendering the rise of a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, Joseph R. McCarthy, whose accusations alone mandated condemnation and ostracization of thousands of Americans. The atmosphere of McCarthyism allowed labels of “commie,” “red,” “pinko,” “fellow traveler,” and others to cause the loss of jobs, expulsion from organizations, eviction from homes, incarceration, and, ...