EDWARD ROTHSTEIN writes on a conference called "Fear: Its Uses and Abuses":

...the dominant idea was that, as the conference's thematic statement put it, fear was being "encouraged by our government and exacerbated by our media."

...after a while it became evident that "fear itself" was what many speakers wanted to inspire, not just to describe.

For the most part...fear of the administration was strenuously cultivated.

...

There was a reluctance to use the concept of an enemy to refer to anything but domestic political opponents.