In the 1950s, Senator Joseph McCarthy was the public face of a period in which Cold War tensions fuelled fears in the United States of widespread Communist subversion. McCarthy believed Soviet spies and sympathizers had infiltrated the US federal government, universities and even extended into Hollywood. But why did America fear communism so much? Who was McCarthy? Why were so many film stars and writers targeted? Rob Weinberg puts the big questions about this critical period to Dr. Mitch Goodrum of Canterbury Christ Church University.
Up Next in Season 1
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🎧 The Renaissance
Spreading throughout the length and breadth of Europe, the Renaissance made an enduring impact on art and architecture, science, politics and law. How did the Renaissance put an end to the Middle Ages? Where did it begin and how did it spread? How did the rise of Islam in Europe influence the Ren...
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🎧 Rome and the Mediterranean
By the first century BC, the nuisance of piracy had become a plague in the Mediterranean. The Romans dispatched Pompey who freed the way for the expansion of commerce and the Empire. But why was the Mediterranean so important to Rome? How did they go about ruling its waves? And how did they rid t...
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🎧 William the Conqueror
On 14 October 1066, Norman invaders led by Duke William of Normandy won a decisive victory over the Anglo-Saxon King Harold Godwinson. But why did William have a claim on the English throne? How did the Battle of Hastings unfold? And how did William the Conqueror change England forever? To answer...
