Between 1945 and the early 50 s the lives of thousands of ordinary citizens were destroyed because they were accused of un-American activities. Government workers, teachers, union leaders, scientist, artists, writers-anyone who expressed a liberal or leftwing opinion could be identified as a Communist or a fellow traveler.In this film both the anti-Communists and the victims of the notorious McCarthy witchhunts talk candidly about the era of anti-Communist hysteria and blacklists. We meet men and women who had joined the Communist Party out of idealism and in reaction to injustices in American society, such as poverty, and racism. They had no thoughts of violently overthrowing the government and indeed, only 43,000 Americans were members of the Communist party.More than 400 people were brought to trial and about a third were sent to prison and assessed huge fines. The execution of the Rosenbergs was the culmination of the hysteria. Arthur Kinoy, a constitutional lawyer, recalls his efforts to stay the execution. Archival newsreels, old propaganda films, and newspaper cartoons recapture those days.