Despite its setting in World War II, it is important to remember that Catch-22 was written in the 1950s. This was a decade of considerable repression in America, exemplified by a U.S. senator from Wisconsin named Joseph Raymond McCarthy. The loyalty oaths and political paranoia in the novel reflect McCarthyism. In February 1950, McCarthy accused the Department of State of employing 205 "known" Communists (later reducing the number to fifty-seven). Although the accusations were never proven, McCarthy became a national figure and the most infamous leader of a witch-hunt rivaling that of Salem in 1692. In the early 1950s, as head of the Senate subcommittee on investigations, McCarthy expanded his search for Communist influence, which contributed to what William Manchester (author of The Glory and the Dream) titled "the age of suspicion." Blacklists, which banned the accused from employment, appeared across the country. State legislatures demanded that college professors, for example, sign loyalty oaths pledging their allegiance to the United States and disavowing any association with Communism. UCLA fired 157 professors who protested that such an oath was unconstitutional; in fact, the teachers pointed out, belonging to the Communist Party was not, in itself, illegal. In the entertainment industry, numerous writers, directors, and actors were blacklisted for years, their careers ruined.
Catch-22 is set in World War II, but its tone is shaped by the events of the 1950s and an attitude toward all wars, not just that one. Looking back, Heller recognized that World War II was a relatively "popular" war for most Americans, a factor in some critical rejection of the novel. Catch-22 grew in popularity during the years of the Vietnam War, when the general population became more attuned to Yossarian's point of view.
