If we want to understand how we arrived in this authoritarian moment in 2025, we need to understand one of the central pathways that brought us here: McCarthyism. In his firsthand account of the 1949 ...

Since Donald Trump retook office on January 20, he’s weaponized the federal government to execute his war on “woke,” targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, LGBTQ+ rights, and higher ...

Fascism wasn’t always a bad word in the U.S. In the 1940s and 1950s, one of the charges levied by the House Un-American Activities Committee was “premature antifascism.” Largely directed at people who ...

Clay Risen discusses his new book "Red Scare." The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 was passed amid anti-communist fears during the early Cold War. That period of history is the focus of the ...

A new book by journalist Clay Risen brings back to life a period of American history after World War II known as the Red Scare. According to Risen, what should've been a counterintelligence effort ...

It was an electric, historic moment. I was 13 and watching the Army-McCarthy hearings with my mother in June, 1954. Sen. Joseph McCarthy had engineered hearings investigating the Army for supposedly ...

HARI SREENIVASAN: Bianna, thanks. Clay Risen, thanks so much for joining us. First, I guess for our audience that might not have paid attention in history class, the Red Scare. Why did it happen? What ...