Yes, there certainly is a history of paranoia and conspiracy theories in US history (in fact, when in graduate school, I was a teaching assistant in a course called "Conspiracies and Conspiracy Theories in U.S. History and Politics).

The go-to article as an overview is probably Richard Hofstadter's "The Paranoid Style in American politics," published originally in Harper's magazine and then turned into a book. Hofstadter's argument revolves around the idea that "angry minds" in politics have read personal or other uninvolved motives into the political or religious other over time. He covers early paranoia against the Illuminati, Jesuits, and Masons before moving into the time of his essay (the Goldwater campaign).

Moving from that, Robert Alan Goldberg's "Enemies Within" is a good overview of post-WWII conspiracy theories (UFOs, Kennedy, etc.)

We also read Peter Charles Hoffer's "The Devil's Disciples: The Makers of the Salem Witchcraft Trials," in which he argues that the Salem trials were early examples of paranoia (over social and economic outliers and change).

Here's the course website (apologies for the Geocities-esque look and feel) if it's helpful: http://www.pasleybrothers.com/conspiracy/