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:
“I died before bedtime came
But my womb was bellowing
And I felt with my bare fall
A blazing red harsh head tear up
And the dear floods of his hair.”
—Dylan Thomas (1914–1953)
““Why wouldn’t it scare me to have a fire
Begin in smudge with ropy smoke, and know
That still, if I repent, I may recall it,
But in a moment not: a little spurt
Of burning fatness, and then nothing but
The fire itself can put it out, and that
By burning out....””
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)