Joseph McCarthy is interviewed about what he believes McCarthyism really is, and whether he has regrets about his tactics regarding the State Department. McCarthyism began in the United States during the period of the "Second Red Scare", lasting roughly from 1950 to 1956. During this period, fear of communism enveloped the US and efforts came about to find and repress communists in America.

Director Arthur Penn talks about his experience as a student and later as a director during the Un-American Activities Committee's reign in the McCarthy Era. He discusses the struggle to decide between abiding by these ideas and working around them.The McCarthy era began about 1950 and lasted until about 1956, in which repression of communism and fear and paranoia of its spread took hold of the United States.