red baiting
Smearing with communism
Red baiting is the practice of accusing someone of being a communist or communist sympathizer, typically to discredit them politically.
The tactic was especially prominent during the McCarthy era in the 1950s United States, when such accusations could destroy careers regardless of their truth.
The term is pejorative, implying the accusation is made in bad faith: Critics dismissed the attack as red baiting.
- McCarthyismPolitically-motivated accusation without evidence
- communistCollectivist political adherent
- witch huntPersecuting supposed wrongdoers
- blacklistRecord of prohibited entities
- smearSpread or defame
political witch hunt · accusation · propaganda · subversive · fifth column · loyalty · loyalty oath · informant · HUAC · paranoia · Cold War · socialist · pinko · fellow traveler · party line · denounce · hysteria · suspicion
- Cold WarBerlin Wall, Iron Curtain, arms race, Warsaw Pact, Cuban Missile Crisis
- smear tacticssmear, smear campaign, mudslinging, attack ads, hit piece