1950s: The Cold War induces anxiety among Americans, who fear both annihilation by Russians and the spread of communism at home. The fear that communism will spread to the United States leads to suspicion and paranoia, heightened by the indictment of ex-government official Alger Hiss (1950) and Julius and Ethel Rosenberg (1951) for passing defense secrets to the Russians.

Today: The Cold War ended after communism was overthrown in the former Soviet Union, yet suspicion and paranoia are still prevalent in America due to the threat of terrorism.

1950s: Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy conducts hearings from 1950-1954, intended to detect communist penetration of American government and academia; for his recklessness, he is censured by the U.S. Senate in 1954.

Today: Racial profiling is being considered as a tool to help combat the threat of terrorism.

1950: David Riesman, a sociologist at the University of Chicago, and a...