Witches don't exist. The Communist Party USA wanted to violently overthrow democracy and replace it with a dictatorship headed by Stalin, and Communists in the US government who were working towards that goal by committing treason against the US did exist in the 1950's.

So no, it was not a witch hunt. Looking back, the "witch hunt" slur seems like gaslighting. "Communists, what communists? You're paranoid and crazy!". The release of the Venona documents is severely damning to the "witch hunt" accusers and vindicating to McCarthy's goals, if not his tactics.

> Witches don't exist

You're aware that dozens of women were hanged in Salem Massachusetts because people believed they were witches? So you're very glibly implying "witch hunts" are not a thing when not only are they a thing, but people in this country, have died due to them.

> vindicating to McCarthy's goals, if not his tactics.

The question was a litmus test for whether you are a person that subscribes to an orthodox perspective of history or heterodox - it is pointless to argue with someone that does not participate in a shared reality.