Why do you think people were fearful of opposing mccarthy?

During the McCarthy era, hundreds of Americans were accused of being "communists" or "communist sympathizers so people were very fearful of opposing McCarthy.

Explanation:

McCarthy looked to dishonor his faultfinders and political adversaries by blaming them for being Communists or socialist sympathizers in the United States that kept going generally from the late 1940s to the mid to late 1950s.

The term gets its name from U.S. Congressperson Joseph McCarthy, a Republican of Wisconsin. It turned into the subject of forceful examinations and addressing before government or private-industry boards, advisory groups, and organizations. So Truman's Secretary of Defense, George Catlett Marshall, was the objective of a portion of McCarthy's most disdainful talk.

relations between the soviet union and the united states were driven by a complex interplay of ideological, political, and economic factors, which led to shifts between cautious cooperation and often bitter superpower rivalry over the years. the distinct differences in the political systems of the two countries often prevented them from reaching a mutual understanding on key policy issues and even, as in the case of the cuban missile crisis, brought them to the brink of war.

the united states government was initially hostile to the soviet leaders for taking russia out of world war i and was opposed to a state ideologically based on communism. although the united states embarked on a famine relief program in the soviet union in the early 1920s and american businessmen established commercial ties there during the period of the new economic policy (1921–29), the two countries did not establish diplomatic relations until 1933. by that time, the totalitarian nature of joseph stalin's regime presented an insurmountable obstacle to friendly relations with the west. although world war ii brought the two countries into alliance, based on the common aim of defeating nazi germany, the soviet union's aggressive, antidemocratic policy toward eastern europe had created tensions even before the war ended.

the answer is b.2008 and 2012 were presidential election years.