Original sentence: Although McCarthy's activities did not result in any convictions or criminal prosecutions for espionage, intercepted Soviet communications from the now-declassified VENONA Project indicate that some of the individuals he pursued did in fact have hidden Communist associations.As a result, the term McCarthyism was coined to specifically describe the intense anti-Communist movement that existed in America from 1950 to about 1956, a time which became popularly known as the Red Scare.During his ten years in the Senate, McCarthy and his staff became notorious for aggressive investigations of people in the U.During this period, people who were suspected of varying degrees of Communist loyalties became the subject of aggressive inquiries, which became known as "witch hunts" to his opponents.People from the media, government, and the military were accused by McCarthy of being suspected Soviet spies or Communist sympathizers.government and others suspected of being Soviet agents on grounds of their political beliefs as Communists or Communist sympathizers
Edited sentence: As part of a leftist counterattack the term McCarthyism was coined as part of a wider witch-hunt to accuse McCarthy himself of waging a witch-hunt and to discredit him and anyone who might have a good word to say about him.But it is a fiction.But they have become generally believed myths that have been locked into the public understanding by sheer repetition.During his ten years in the Senate, McCarthy and his staff were accused of overly aggressive investigations of people in the U.Given McCarthy's innocence with regards to the implied accusations of the phrase 'McCarthyism' we might say that this term of abuse is one of histories great misnomers.In fact the left had tried this term of abuse on at previous occasions.McCarthy did manage to remove people who clearly were a security risks away from sensitive positions.McCarthy was finally completely exonerated by the now declassified VENONA Project which showed that the problem of communist infiltration in Washington was far worse then evern McCarthy imagined.None of the many allegations made againist him were proved or even very credible.Part of this campaign retrospectively invented the idea of a  Red Scare.The 'Red Scare' or anti-Communist movement is usually alleged to have existed in America from 1950 to about 1956.The term 'Red Scare' is meant to take the concern the people had with the communists murdering millions of people and turn it into a way of undermining the masculinity of anyone who shows such concern.government and others suspected of being security risks