America Trends Podcast

America Trends Podcast


EP 847 The Red Scare to This Moment in U.S. History

March 24, 2025

The Red Scare, after World War II, gave birth to the New Right in America and what we see today in the second Administration of Donald Trump.  That, according to historian and New York Times editor, Clay Risen, the author of “Red Scare: Blacklists, McCarthyism and the Making of Modern America.”  In his account of the history, the Red Scare, in which many in this country were wrongly accused of being Communists by Sen. Joseph McCarthy and the House Un-American Committee (HUAC) was a result of two things: a long-simmering conflict in which social conservatives faced off against New Deal progressives and the sudden, terrifying onset of the Cold War against the Soviet Union.  Parallels to our current political situation are inevitable but distinct.  Then, as now, underpinning our political divides is a deep and bitter cultural conflict brought on by fast changing demographic shifts and fears about a new knowledge-based economy which is dislocating many Americans. Historical resonance is at play with a direct line from the Red Scare to today.