Thanksgiving is a national day of appreciation. For me, it's also a reminder of how badly things can go in this country. Nearly sixty years ago, on Thanksgiving day, a witch hunt for communists, or people rumored to be communists, began in the Hollywood movie industry and rapidly spread to industries, public institutions, professions, communities, neighborhoods, and families across the country.

Those who lived through those times can still remember the daily fear that, at any moment, they or someone they loved might be denounced by colleagues, friends, even family members for having left-wing political ideas. Others, too young to remember, find it hard to believe that the world's most open democracy grew as intolerant of dissent as a police state—without a single shot being fired.

This is the story of how that period, from the late 1940s to the early 1960s and beyond, tore at my family and shaped my life.

Transcript coming