The term Red Scare denotes the promotion of fear of a potential rise of communism or radical leftism, used by anti-leftist proponents. In the United States, the First Red Scare was about worker (socialist) revolution and political radicalism. The Second Red Scare was focused on national and foreign communists influencing society, infiltrating the federal government, or both.
The term has somewhat regained popularity among the conservative right in America after the elections of President Barack Obama; the words have for instance been used by radio talkshow host Glenn Beck.
Read more about Red Scare: First Red Scare (1919–1921), Second Red Scare (1947–1957)
Famous quotes containing the words red and/or scare:
“He gets red roses in different places,
the head, that time he was as sleepy as a river,
the back, that time he was a broken scarecrow,
the arm like a diamond had bitten it,
the leg, twisted like a licorice stick....”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“They cannot scare me with their empty spaces
Between stars—on stars where no human race is.
I have it in me so much nearer home
To scare myself with my own desert places.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)