Who was involved in the second red scare?
has been retroactively applied to two distinct periods of strong anti-Communism in United States history: first from 1917 to 1920, and second from the late 1940s through the late 1950s. These periods were characterized by heightened persecution, by the government and by the public alike, of Communists and radicals, amidst allegations of widespread “infiltration” of Communists in U.S. government.