The idea of not discriminating based on politics or other overt characteristics, as a widespread cultural phenomenon, was relatively new and short-lived.
Edit: the above is perhaps a bit of an incomplete thought. I'd generally argue that picking wartime era hysteria is a little misleading, that happens to basically every country. On the other hand, there's a reason why people always jump on the "myth" of the First Amendment when it's mentioned in discussions about private companies: Americans often confuse the constitutional principle with the general principle, and they do this because Americans are largely supportive of the general principle.
My point is that, as far as I know, the kind of freedoms and political neutrality the West enjoyed between 1980s to 2010s were a short-lived anomaly. Implied in that was an observation that we're on a downslope now and I agree with 'OneEyedRobot that we're not enjoying much of that neutrality today.
In the early 1970s? I'd like to see some citations of that.