Why is communism scaring to an American in the 1950s?
Because the US government lied to them about what real Communism is. Stalinism is what they were really scared of. It scared them because it took all of the profits and products of a nation’s labor and gave only what was absolutely necessary to the majority, while keeping the rest and distributing it amongst the government and military higher-ups. That is NOT Communism. That is what the Americans knew they could expect if it managed to spread to the USA. It was also used as an excuse to discriminate against a lot of Jews!! They were labeled as Communists. In fact, anyone who spoke-out against the witch-hunt and violation of the rights to privacy of the citizens were labeled as Communists. That second link is to the FBI file of Danny Kaye. He was suspected of being a Communist, because of his involvement with groups such as Independent Citizens’ Committee of the Arts, Sciences, and Professions, Committee for the First Amendment, Committee for Democratic Action, and Critic of Un-American
