November 13, 2025.

Students in Florida’s public schools will soon be learning an interpretation of McCarthyism and the Cold War that is steeped in rhetoric of that era. State education officials approved sweeping new social studies standards Thursday on the history of communism. The standards soften decades of reflection on work by former U.S. Sen. Joseph McCarthy, who led a political movement to root out what he saw as communism in political, civil rights and artistic communities during the early 1950s. The effort stripped employment opportunities and cultural standing from many of the people McCarthy accused. The new standards refer to the term McCarthyism “as an insult” and reference “slander against anti-communists.” The new benchmarks have alarmed some educators.