Many Americans assumed that strong concerted forces—whether Communists, industry barons, Jews, or some combination thereof—pulled strings behind the curtain in order to gain power and wealth, while ruining good simple folk. (Again, that is happening now, but the forces are less cinematic: corporate leaders who successfully lobby government for the right to increase their salaries while decreasing worker pay and increase their profits while spoiling natural environments.) McCarthy simply stoked an existing fire.
