Why did Joseph McCarthy want to prevent communism after world war 2?
In reality, the USSR was not interested in such aims- it’s only territorial dispute lay with Japan over the status of the Kuril Islands, and the Soviet Government (even under Stalin) recognised that it would be economically unsustainable to envisage expansion of it’s sphere of influence. The Soviet Government only became dangerous if it felt that it’s direct interests were being threatened, or that a Western plot was brewing to try and bring Communism in the USSR down. But McCarthy was basically a sick man- he became unable to distinguish between where reality ended and his own fantasy fears began, and this led to acute paranoia on his part. He saw danger all over the place where there wasn’t any, and really believed that the USA was full of Soviet sympathisers and Communist spies, who were plotting to subvert the US Government and usher in not just Communist, but Stalinist, rule. He saw everybody as a potential enemy- his own paranoia was a mirror image of that of Stalin or Hitler, an
