What are the motifs in Scoundrel Time by Lillian Hellman?

Political expediency is a recurring idea in the book. Even the most casual observer of the political scene in America can readily see that the major concern of politicians is not necessarily taxes and building roads; rather, it is their own career and future. The years leading up to and succeeding the dark time of McCarthyism is no exception. A relatively short time after peace was declared in World War II, President Harry S. Truman launched the Cold War. America's enemy in the Cold War was identified as Russia and Communism setting the stage for the years of distrust culminating in the McCarthy years