Which notorious American figure is most associated with the anti-communist witch hunt of the 1950s known as the "Red Scare"?

McCarthy's fanatical crusade began in 1950 with a speech in which he claimed — while waving a piece of paper — that he had a list of 205 "card-carrying communists" who had infiltrated the U.S. government. Effectively given carte blanche by the U.S. Senate, McCarthy spent the next five years trying in vain to expose communist spies, subjecting one innocent person after another to aggressive interrogation at public hearings. Although his claims were eventually dismissed as baseless, he had already ruined the reputations and livelihoods of many people. In the U.S. government alone, close to 2,000 employees lost their jobs because of McCarthy's investigations.

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