"McCarthy was an important part of the great crusade against domestic subversion that shaped American public life in the 1950s, but he was only one of many figures who helped create the great fear. The American Civil Liberties Union warned that 'the threat to civil liberties today is the most serious in the history of our country.' The historian Richard Hofstadter wrote in 1954 of 'the widespread foreboding among liberals that this form of dissent will grow until it overwhelms our liberties altogether and plunges us into a totalitarian nightmare.'" Based on this paragraph, what did many Americans fear Communism would do to the country? Support your answer with evidence from the text.