"There was a very serious communist strain among American intellectuals before the war. America was a more tolerant place in those days, and Communists were not treated as pariahs. That ended with the McCarthy era"

This quote by Ken Follett speaks to the political environment of the United States before the Second World War. It suggests that there was a strong presence of communism amongst American intellectuals, which the nation was more tolerant of this ideology than it is today. This altered dramatically with the McCarthy era, which saw a wave of anti-communist belief sweep throughout the nation. This period of intense paranoia and worry caused the persecution of those who were presumed of being communists, and the ideology was mostly demonized in the public eye. This quote serves as a tip of the value of tolerance and understanding in a democracy.