McCarthyism
Public accusations of disloyalty or subversion without solid evidence.
Origin
Named for U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy, who in the early 1950s led a campaign against alleged communists in government, Hollywood, and academia. His Senate hearings ruined careers on flimsy or fabricated evidence. The era ended in 1954 when McCarthy was censured, but the term outlasted him.
Modern usage
Levelled at any political campaign of public accusation, blacklisting, or guilt-by-association โ by all sides, often loosely.
In the wild
Cancel culture is a new kind of McCarthyism, the columnist argued.โ op-ed clichรฉ
Tags
Related
Politics & Statecraft
Witch Hunt
A public campaign that punishes people on the basis of suspicion or panic rather than evidence.
Politics & Statecraft
Iron Curtain
The closed border that divided communist Eastern Europe from the West during the Cold War.
Politics & Statecraft
Watergate
The original modern political scandal โ and the suffix '-gate' now appended to every successor.