Editing Red Scare (section)

==== Wind down ====
Examining the political controversies of the 1940s and 1950s, historian [[John Earl Haynes]], who studied the [[Venona project|Venona]] decryptions extensively, argued that Joseph McCarthy's attempts to "make anti-communism a partisan weapon" actually "threatened [the post-War] anti-Communist consensus", thereby ultimately harming anti-communist efforts more than helping them.<ref name=":4" /> Meanwhile, the "shockingly high level" of infiltration by Soviet agents during WWII had largely dissipated by 1950.<ref name=":4" /> Liberal anti-communists like [[Edward Shils]] and [[Daniel Moynihan]] had contempt for McCarthyism, and Moynihan argued that McCarthy's overreaction distracted from the "real (but limited) extent of Soviet espionage in America."<ref name=":3" /> In 1950, President [[Harry S. Truman|Harry Truman]] called Joseph McCarthy "the greatest asset the [[Kremlin]] has."<ref name="Wheatcroft 1998">{{cite news|last=Wheatcroft|first=Geoffrey|date=12 May 1998|title=Anti-Anticommunism Again|work=The Wall Street Journal|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB894939271693861000|issn=0099-9660|accessdate=8 March 2021|archive-date=13 November 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221113005355/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB894939271693861000|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Welch-McCarthy-Hearings.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Senator [[Joseph McCarthy]] (right) with a map of Communist Party organizations, 1954]]
In 1954, after accusing the army, including war heroes, Senator Joseph McCarthy lost credibility in the eyes of the American public and the [[Army–McCarthy hearings|Army-McCarthy Hearings]] were held in the summer of 1954. He was formally censured by his colleagues in Congress and the hearings led by McCarthy came to a close.<ref name=":1"/> After the Senate formally censured McCarthy,<ref>{{Cite web |title=U.S. Senate: The Censure Case of Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin (1954) |url=https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/censure_cases/133Joseph_McCarthy.htm |access-date=2022-04-05 |website=www.senate.gov |archive-date=2010-01-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100107030754/https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/censure_cases/133Joseph_McCarthy.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> his political standing and power were significantly diminished, and much of the tension surrounding the idea of a possible communist takeover died down.

From 1955 through 1959, the Supreme Court made several decisions which restricted the ways in which the government could enforce its anti-communist policies, some of which included limiting the federal loyalty program to only those who had access to sensitive information, allowing defendants to face their accusers, reducing the strength of congressional investigation committees, and weakening the Smith Act.<ref name=":2"/> In the 1957 case ''[[Yates v. United States]]'' and the 1961 case ''[[Scales v. United States]]'', the Supreme Court limited Congress's ability to circumvent the First Amendment, and in 1967 during the Supreme Court case ''[[United States v. Robel]]'', the Supreme Court ruled that a ban on communists in the defense industry was unconstitutional.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/1063/red-scare |title=Red Scare |last=Cowley |first=Marcie K. |website=www.mtsu.edu |language=en |access-date=2019-11-01}}</ref>

In 1995, the American government declassified details of the Venona Project following the [[Moynihan Commission on Government Secrecy|Moynihan Commission]], which when combined with the opening of the USSR [[Comintern]] archives, provided substantial validation of intelligence gathering, outright spying, and policy influencing, by Americans on behalf of the Soviet Union, from 1940 through 1980.<ref name="NYUvenona">{{Cite web |url=http://homepages.nyu.edu/~th15/venona.html |title=Venona and the Russian Files |year=2010 |website=The Hiss Case in Story |publisher=[[Harvard]], [[NYU]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514090916/http://homepages.nyu.edu/~th15/venona.html |archive-date=May 14, 2011 |access-date=2010-07-28}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/commissions/secrecy/pdf/12hist1.pdf |title=A Brief Account of the American Experience |last=Commission on Protecting and Reducing Government Secrecy |website=Report of the Commission on Protecting and Reducing Government Secrecy. VI; Appendix A |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |page=A-7 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514040131/http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/commissions/secrecy/pdf/12hist1.pdf |archive-date=May 14, 2011 |access-date=2006-06-26}}</ref> Over 300 American communists, whether they knew it or not, including government officials and technicians that helped in [[Atomic spies|developing the atom bomb]], were found to have engaged in espionage.<ref name=":2" /> This allegedly included some pro-Soviet capitalists, such as economist [[Harry Dexter White]],<ref>{{Cite web|last=Rao|first=Ashok|date=2014-08-24|title=This Soviet spy created the US-led global economy|url=https://www.vox.com/2014/8/24/6057119/harry-dexter-white-ben-steil|access-date=2021-11-07|website=Vox|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|title=How a Soviet spy outmaneuvered John Maynard Keynes to ensure U.S. financial dominance|language=en-US|newspaper=Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2013/03/14/how-a-soviet-spy-outmaneuvered-john-maynard-keynes-and-ensured-u-s-global-financial-dominance/|access-date=2021-11-07|issn=0190-8286|archive-date=2022-03-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220317034134/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2013/03/14/how-a-soviet-spy-outmaneuvered-john-maynard-keynes-and-ensured-u-s-global-financial-dominance/|url-status=live}}</ref> and communist businessman [[David Karr]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-09-19 |title=Rich and red: The USSR's prize assets {{!}} Harvey Klehr |url=https://thecritic.co.uk/rich-and-red-the-ussrs-prize-assets/ |access-date=2022-11-02 |website=The Critic Magazine |language=en-GB |archive-date=2022-11-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221102061113/https://thecritic.co.uk/rich-and-red-the-ussrs-prize-assets/ |url-status=live }}</ref>