[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:06.69,0:00:10.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Imagine that one day,\Nyou're summoned before a government panel.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:10.85,0:00:13.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Even though you haven't \Ncommitted any crime,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:13.31,0:00:15.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or been formally charged with one,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:15.61,0:00:19.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you are repeatedly questioned\Nabout your political views,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:19.06,0:00:21.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,accused of disloyalty,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:21.08,0:00:25.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and asked to incriminate your friends\Nand associates.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:25.65,0:00:30.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If you don't cooperate,\Nyou risk jail or losing your job.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:30.48,0:00:35.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is exactly what happened in\Nthe United States in the 1950s
Dialogue: 0,0:00:35.06,0:00:40.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as part of a campaign to expose\Nsuspected communists.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:40.17,0:00:42.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Named after its most \Nnotorious practitioner,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:42.96,0:00:49.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the phenomenon known as McCarthyism\Ndestroyed thousands of lives and careers.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:49.57,0:00:54.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,For over a decade, American political \Nleaders trampled democratic freedoms
Dialogue: 0,0:00:54.40,0:00:57.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the name of protecting them.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:57.27,0:00:59.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,During the 1930s and 1940s,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:59.42,0:01:04.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,there had been an active but small\Ncommunist party in the United States.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:04.31,0:01:06.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Its record was mixed.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:06.32,0:01:09.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,While it played crucial roles in wider \Nprogressive struggles
Dialogue: 0,0:01:09.44,0:01:11.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for labor and civil rights,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:11.48,0:01:14.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it also supported the Soviet Union.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:14.79,0:01:18.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,From the start, the American \NCommunist Party faced attacks
Dialogue: 0,0:01:18.16,0:01:20.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,from conservatives and business leaders,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:20.79,0:01:26.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as well as from liberals who criticized\Nits ties to the oppressive Soviet regime.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:26.08,0:01:30.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,During World War II, when the USA\Nand USSR were allied against Hitler,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:30.78,0:01:35.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,some American communists actually\Nspied for the Russians.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:35.33,0:01:38.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When the Cold War escalated\Nand this espionage became known,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:38.96,0:01:43.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,domestic communism came to be seen\Nas a threat to national security.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:43.81,0:01:45.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But the attempt to eliminate that threat
Dialogue: 0,0:01:45.75,0:01:49.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,soon turned into the longest lasting\Nand most widespread episode
Dialogue: 0,0:01:49.21,0:01:52.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of political repression \Nin American history.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:52.74,0:01:54.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Spurred on by a network of bureaucrats,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:54.70,0:01:55.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,politicians,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:55.70,0:01:56.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,journalists,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:56.78,0:01:58.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and businessmen,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:58.01,0:02:03.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the campaign wildly exaggerated\Nthe danger of communist subversion.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:03.46,0:02:05.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The people behind it harassed anyone
Dialogue: 0,0:02:05.22,0:02:08.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,suspected of holding \Nleft-of-center political views
Dialogue: 0,0:02:08.07,0:02:11.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or associating with those who did.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:11.93,0:02:14.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If you hung modern art on your walls,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:14.28,0:02:16.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,had a multiracial social circle,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:16.30,0:02:19.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or signed petitions against\Nnuclear weapons,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:19.12,0:02:21.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you might just have been a communist.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:21.98,0:02:23.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Starting in the late 1940s,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:23.64,0:02:26.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover
Dialogue: 0,0:02:26.18,0:02:30.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,used the resources of his agency\Nto hunt down such supposed communists
Dialogue: 0,0:02:30.47,0:02:33.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and eliminate them from any\Nposition of influence
Dialogue: 0,0:02:33.48,0:02:36.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,within American society.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:36.39,0:02:39.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the narrow criteria that Hoover\Nand his allies used
Dialogue: 0,0:02:39.48,0:02:41.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to screen federal employees
Dialogue: 0,0:02:41.48,0:02:44.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,spread to the rest of the country.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:44.37,0:02:45.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Soon, Hollywood studios,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:45.81,0:02:46.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,universities,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:46.82,0:02:48.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,car manufacturers,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:48.18,0:02:51.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and thousands of other public\Nand private employers
Dialogue: 0,0:02:51.23,0:02:57.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,were imposing the same political tests\Non the men and women who worked for them.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:57.17,0:03:00.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Meanwhile, Congress conducted \Nits own witchhunt
Dialogue: 0,0:03:00.44,0:03:04.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,subpoenaing hundreds of people\Nto testify before investigative bodies
Dialogue: 0,0:03:04.60,0:03:08.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,like the House Un-American \NActivities Committee.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:08.96,0:03:12.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If they refused to cooperate,\Nthey could be jailed for contempt,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:12.35,0:03:16.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or more commonly, fired and blacklisted.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:16.31,0:03:18.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Ambitious politicians, like Richard Nixon
Dialogue: 0,0:03:18.68,0:03:20.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and Joseph McCarthy,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:20.43,0:03:23.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,used such hearings as a partisan weapon
Dialogue: 0,0:03:23.71,0:03:26.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,accusing democrats \Nof being soft on communism
Dialogue: 0,0:03:26.50,0:03:30.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and deliberately losing China\Nto the Communist Bloc.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:30.82,0:03:33.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,McCarthy, a Republican senator \Nfrom Wisconsin
Dialogue: 0,0:03:33.83,0:03:38.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,became notorious by flaunting\Never-changing lists of alleged communists
Dialogue: 0,0:03:38.65,0:03:41.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,within the State Department.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:41.28,0:03:43.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Egged on by other politicians,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:43.09,0:03:45.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,he continued to make \Noutrageous accusations
Dialogue: 0,0:03:45.80,0:03:49.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,while distorting or fabricating evidence.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:49.40,0:03:53.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Many citizens reviled McCarthy\Nwhile others praised him.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:53.52,0:03:57.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And when the Korean War broke out,\NMcCarthy seemed vindicated.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:57.53,0:03:59.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Once he became chair
Dialogue: 0,0:03:59.87,0:04:04.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of the Senate's permanent subcommittee\Non investigations in 1953,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:04.34,0:04:06.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,McCarthy recklessness increased.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:06.61,0:04:12.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It was his investigation of the army that \Nfinally turned public opinion against him
Dialogue: 0,0:04:12.70,0:04:15.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and diminished his power.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:15.33,0:04:17.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,McCarthy's colleagues \Nin the Senate censured him
Dialogue: 0,0:04:17.76,0:04:22.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and he died less than three years later,\Nprobably from alcoholism.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:22.91,0:04:24.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,McCarthyism ended as well.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:24.90,0:04:27.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It had ruined hundreds, \Nif not thousands, of lives
Dialogue: 0,0:04:27.74,0:04:32.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and drastically narrowed the American\Npolitical spectrum.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:32.13,0:04:35.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Its damage to democratic institutions\Nwould be long lasting.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:35.83,0:04:39.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In all likelihood, there were both\NDemocrats and Republicans
Dialogue: 0,0:04:39.16,0:04:43.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who knew that the anti-communist\Npurges were deeply unjust
Dialogue: 0,0:04:43.54,0:04:48.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but feared that directly opposing them\Nwould hurt their careers.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:48.42,0:04:51.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Even the Supreme Court failed\Nto stop the witchhunt,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:51.34,0:04:54.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,condoning serious violations\Nof constitutional rights
Dialogue: 0,0:04:54.45,0:04:57.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the name of national security.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:57.33,0:05:01.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Was domestic communism an actual\Nthreat to the American government?
Dialogue: 0,0:05:01.12,0:05:03.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Perhaps, though a small one.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:03.68,0:05:08.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But the reaction to it was so extreme\Nthat it caused far more damage
Dialogue: 0,0:05:08.00,0:05:10.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,than the threat itself.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:10.35,0:05:13.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And if new demagogues appeared\Nin uncertain times
Dialogue: 0,0:05:13.50,0:05:17.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to attack unpopular minorities\Nin the name of patriotism,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:17.63,0:05:19.100,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,could it all happen again?