red scare

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun Fearmongering about a rise of communism to threaten Western nations, especially from Soviet Union and the the Soviet bloc in the past, China, Cuba, North Korea, etc. but also from any leftist movements.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun a period of general fear of communists