Senator Joseph McCarthy led a government-supported campaign from the late 1940s to the late 1950s, to rid the USA of anyone with left-leaning tendencies. It was argued at the time, with justification, that he set up a witch hunt to track down subversives: people antagonistic to the high ideals which USA ideology had persuaded themselves was their own God-given destiny. McCarthy and his allies were consumed by fear and paranoia as if American civilisation was about to be taken over. The campaign was focused on people in academia, the arts and entertainment, labour union activists, and those in public service. These were accusations of subversion or treason, often without proper evidence.

The mechanics of the West German recovery is a tale rarely told. The Marshall Plan was the means through which the Americans channelled money for the recovery of all states in Europe in the Western sector and Japan. The USA had 80% of the world’s gold supply, so could well afford the largesse needed by all the collapsed economies. Over the four years, $13 billion (equivalent to well over $100 billion today) or 0.5% of the USA Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was channelled into dollar-starved Europe