Explain why, as after World War I, there was a “Red Scare” in America

Explain why, as after World War I, there was a “Red Scare” in America following World War II–McCarthyism. Do you think this anti-Communism was rational? Exaggerated? Necessary? Explain.

What will be an ideal response?

ANSWER
America experienced a “Red Scare” after World War II because the “paranoid style” in American politics made Americans vulnerable to arguments that the nation’s security was threatened by dark and malevolent forces working to destroy American values and society. Americans saw Communism as an internal conspiracy as well as an external threat. Rumors and revelations of communist subversive activity coupled with government loyalty programs and an extreme anticommunist foreign policy all fed the public’s anxiety over their lost sense of security.