Vietnam
The Vietnam War was a long, costly armed conflict that pitted the communist regime of North Vietnam and its southern allies, known as the Viet Cong, against South Vietnam and its principal ally, the United States. The divisive war, increasingly unpopular at home, ended with the withdrawal of U.S. forces in 1973 and the unification of Vietnam under Communist control two years later. More than 3 million people, including 58,000 Americans, were killed in the conflict.
Communism
n 1949, the Soviet Union successfully tested an atomic bomb, and China joined the world's communist ranks following a civil war. In 1950, North Korea's communist regime invaded pro-Western South Korea, prompting the United States and the United Nations to intervene militarily. For many Americans, these events demonstrated that the Soviet Union was planning a global communist takeover. Though the hysteria that ensued had largely subsided by the late 1950s, in the coming years, other events, some related to Fidel Castro's successful Marxist revolution in Cuba in 1959, would bring the threat of communism closer to home.
The Red Scare
As the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States intensified in the late 1940s and early 1950s, hysteria over the perceived threat posed by Communists in the U.S. became known as the Red Scare. (Communists were often referred to as “Reds” for their allegiance to the red Soviet flag.) The Red Scare led to a range of actions that had a profound and enduring effect on U.S. government and society. Federal employees were analyzed to determine whether they were sufficiently loyal to the government, and the House Un-American Activities Committee, as well as U.S. Senator Joseph R. McCarthy, investigated allegations of subversive elements in the government and the Hollywood film industry. The climate of fear and repression linked to the Red Scare finally began to ease by the late 1950s.