Too many people were afraid in both times because they could be death or go to the jail only flor being accused of a crime by someone.In the mccarthy era you could be punished by being put in jail or charging to death,Some examples of people being punished in the mccarthy era was Owen Lattimore that got charged for being a spy for the soviet union, and Proctor from the crucible that refused to sign a document and got charged to the death in public (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owen_Lattimore).Owen lattimore got