during the cold war, the united states had a "red scare" where the government tried to find people it thought were communist. the house of representatives had a group called the house un-american activities committee to deal with this, and joseph mccarthy led hearings in the senate. the red scare led to people losing their jobs, going to jail, and even being executed. many actors and authors were put on blacklists, which meant they could not get jobs in movies or get credit for their writings.