While the United States was fighting the Cold War to preserve its freedoms, the fears and anti-Communism the Cold War helped cause at home undermined some of those freedoms. One of the most notorious examples of this is Senator Joseph McCarthy. In his search for Communists in the U.S. government he infringed upon civil rights and freedoms, such as freedom of speech, provided to all Americans by Constitution. His actions caused a lot of innocent people, mostly government employees, to loose their jobs and reputation. In addition, in the case of Hollywood Ten, the freedom of speech - the most vital freedom in democratic society, was violated because the speech and views of Hollywood Ten where different, or were thought to be different, from those of House Un-American Activities Committee. In another case, the Rosenbergs Trial, the basic rules of criminal procedure and burden of proof were buried under the anti-Communist hysteria and two possible innocent people were electrocuted.
             McCarthy was little known before gaining national attention with a speech in Wheeling, West Virginia, on February 12, 1950. In that address, McCarthy argued that the United States was denied the fruits of victory from World War II by treasonous subversives in the U.S. State Department. He especially blamed the 1949 Chinese communist takeover on treachery within the U.S. State Department. In that speech, McCarthy stated fifty-seven Communists were working in the State Department (Matusow 48).
             Even when Senator McCarthy was giving his very first accusing speech in Wheeling he had not any factual information whatever to support his accusations. The truth is that in making his speech in Wheeling, Senator McCarthy was talking of a subject and circumstances about which he knew nothing. After the specially-appointed Tydings Committee reviewed McCarthy's work, they concluded that in no instance was any one of State Department employees found to be a card-...