Who conducted investigations into communist activities within the federal government?
alger hiss
whittaker chambers
joseph p. mccarthy

It was Joseph P. McCarthy. All through the late 1940s and early 1950s, the view of communist rebellion at home and abroad seemed terrifyingly real to many people in the United States. These doubts came to define and disintegrate– the era’s political culture. For many Americans, the most enduring symbol of this “Red Scare” was Republican Senator Joseph P. McCarthy of Wisconsin. He spent nearly five years trying to uncover communists and other left-wing “loyalty risks” in the U.S. government. In the hyper-suspicious atmosphere of the Cold War, suggestions of disloyalty were enough to convince many Americans that their government was packed with traitors and spies. McCarthy’s accusations were so daunting that few people dared to speak out against him. It was not until he attacked the Army in 1954 that his actions earned him the scorn of the U.S. Senate.