Young Americans today are thoroughly indoctrinated by public schools, colleges and the media to believe that the \"Red Scare\" of the McCarthy Era was a witch hunt built on hysteria and paranoia.  Joseph McCarthy is often portrayed as a lunatic and a fear monger who used the \"communist bogeyman\" as a way to grow government power and silence detractors.  

As future declassified documents would eventually prove, nothing could be further from the truth.

Senator McCarthy was right and his accusations were largely accurate - Communist funded groups and subversive agents had infiltrated almost every aspect of American society from entertainment to education to industry.  The revelation was so shocking that it was ultimately covered up for decades and McCarthy became a pariah instead of a hero. 

In the 1990s, documents finally released through the Freedom of Information Act revealed Project Verona, a secret program launched in 1943 which eventually led to the breaking of Soviet encryption methods.  The information gathered from the communist regime was extensive and uncovered vast networks of Soviet spies and sympathizers working against the west.