Interesting fun fact: Senator Joe McCarthy was regarded as one of the worst individuals of the 1950's mainly by his methods of accusing those in the government of being spies, and/or being communists (presumably influencing politics). He desperately tried to prove his points but due to many reasons and other influences (and a lack of belief from his fellow politicians) he was essentially ignored after creating numerous scares.
He was cast out of the Senate and eventually died with problems associated with depression and alcoholism. Here's the catch: in the mid 1990's the former Soviet Union's KGB and United States FBI together released thousands of documents relating to the infiltration of communists in the American government. They were called the Venona papers.