Compare And Contrast The Crucible And The Second Red Scare

Vivian Gonzalez Mr. Martinez-Ramos A.P. United States History May 3, 2000 McCarthyism was one of the saddest events of American history. It destroyed people’s lives and shattered many families. It threw innocent people into a whirlwind of mass confusion and fictional portrayals of their lives. McCarthyism spawned for the country’s new found terror of Communism known as the red scare. McCarthyism was an extreme version of the red scare, a scare whose ends did not justify the means. The Red Scare happened twice in the history of this great country. When the communist took over Russia in 1919, the American people were unnerved. They were afraid of a communist take over in the states. When the First World War ended in 1918, there was still

In both The Crucible and McCarthyism, people are accused of being either witches or communists. The accused are placed in such a dire situation where they are either forced to lie to save themselves, or to remain honest, at the risk of their social or physical lives. In The Crucible, John Proctor is accused of practicing witchcraft, and when asked if he is a witch, he responds,“Why it is a lie, it is a lie; how may I damn myself? I cannot, I cannot.” (Act IV pg. 140) He refuses to confess to something he did not do, even if lying means that he can save his life. During the McCarthy trials, people who were accused of being communists refused to confess that they were, although it hurt their reputation. In both

In 1952 a play was written by Arthur Miller, about events that happened in Salem in 1692. The play was about affairs, accusations, and innocent people being accused of witches. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Abigail and Mary Warren are introduced as two separate people. Although people might see Abigail and Mary Warren as two separate people and nothing alike, they are more alike than meet's the eye. Abigail and Mary Warren have three things in common; they are both are deceitful, they both dishonest, and they are both apprehensive.

“Arthur Miller made the play called “The Crucible” during the 1950’s as a response to McCarthyism and the U.S. Governments blacklisted people.”(Blakesley). Miller was then question and accused of “Contempt of Congress” for not identifying people that were at meetings he attended. McCarthyism and The Salem Witch Craft Trials have been two very wrong things that have happened in the history of the United States for a lot of reasons. First off they both wrongfully accused innocent people of performing not accepted actions of those times. In America you have a right of free will and in both cases they were denied this right just because of someone else’s opinion. In both cases of the Salem Witch Craft Trials and McCarthyism people were being accused of acts with little evidence. People pointed fingers at others so they wouldn’t get blamed for anything, so there was a scare factor taking place. Large groups of people supported these acts maybe because of a get on board everyone’s doing it theme, and if you disagreed you were considered a witch or a communist. Our country supported McCarthy until later we soon regretted it. During the 1940’s and 1950’s communism was a scare in the U.S. so McCarthy capitalized on the subject and said two hundred card carrying communist were in the U.S(PBS). With the Salem Trials people capitalized on the scare of witches and everyone starting accusing the “weird” people. Accusations weather true or false can

The Red Scare and The Salem Witch Trials were both events that left a mark in American history. The Red Scare began in 1917 and took place across the United States. The Red Scare was known as the widespread promotion of anti-communism. The Salem Witch Trials began in 1692 and took place in Salem, Massachusetts. The Salem Witch Trials were various court hearings and prosecutions of people in Salem accused of Witchcraft. Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible, a play about The Salem Witch Trials, to send a message to Senator Joseph McCarthy, the face of The Red Scare. Even though both of these events took place at completely different times their connection remains profound. The Crucible and The Red Scare have various similarities and allegories

During the time of the Red Scare lives were destroyed from all of accusations made. The people that were wrongfully accused had families and then got destroyed reputations. From the Cold War Museum it stated that “the nation grew to realize that McCarthy was evil and unmatched in malice.” once they found that McCarthy was not to be trusted, everyone knew that the people McCarthy told were communist were not

In the 1950’s, Senator Joseph McCarthy turned Americans against each other by installing fear in the people regarding toward Communism. During this time, in fact, people were getting blacklisted even if they weren't communist. In an incident at the Republican Women’s Club of Wheeling, McCarthy delivered a speech. The situation involving the Senator escalated when he stated that the State Department is infested with Communist. In this point in time, due to the false allegations, people went on a decade long period of witch hunts. Sam Roberts, the author of “A Decade of Fear” stated that in fact, “...thousands of alleged Communists in the U.S. were arrested and deported during what became known as the Red Scare.”

The Red Scare is the rounding up and deportation of several hundred immigrates of radical political views by the federal government in 1919 and 1920. Certain causes that led up to this event was the fact that the United States feared the fact that certain immigrants embraced communist, socialist, and anarchist ideology. The Red Scare later led to the impact of the fear of communism. Today this event is remembered all over the world for is impact that it made on every person society.

During the 1940s and 1950s there was a mass hysteria in America because people suspected others of being Communist. A man named Arthur Miller wrote ‘’The Crucible’’ as a way to signify what was happening in the U.S. . He used this story to show how bad things were and how easy it was for people to be falsely accused of being Communist. Miller connects America's Red scare to his fictional story ‘’The Crucible’’ because in the fictional drama the normal people of Salem where falsely persecuted as witches and just like the people during the Red Scare , their lives were ruined beyond repair and they were even killed for suspicion of being a witch even if there was littler evidence to state them as being one.

Tony Blair introduced me to politics. Taken by my parents to protest in London against the Iraq war I experienced the inability of national politics and international relations to be mutually exclusive concepts. Key issues such as the growing refugee crisis, the debate regarding Britain’s place in Europe and trade agreements such as TTIP all have national and international implications. Britain’s political sovereignty has been eroded by Unions, Agreements and world events. This opens up the debate as to where power is concentrated. A more controversial debate would address whether national and global decisions are in fact being made by politicians at all, or if global corporations impose greater power. Regardless of this nihilistic view, the

The human race is a very calamitous, worrisome species; their nature creates judgment along with foolishness. Once placed in an unexpected situation they all turn on each other. This kind of tomfoolery has happened many times; such as, The Crucible, “The Monsters are Due on Maple Street” and The Cold War. In the Crucible, the people of Salem believe that there are witches cursing residents. They slowly raise suspicion of each other consequently creating a dilemma on their own; ultimately, they accuse each other so they can become uncharged. The tension caused them to turn on one another creating their own darkness.

In the late 1940’s, hundreds of screenwriters, actors, actresses and entertainers of the Hollywood film industry faced charges of being subversive to America through spies for the Soviet Union. The FBI was accusing many Americans for being loyal to the communist country, this is similar to witch hunts that occurred in Salem, Massachusetts. The “Red Scare” and the Witch Trials both produced mass hysteria as a result of people’s irrational angst. The Crucible a play composed by American author, Arthur Miller who was many of the accused during the red scare, wrote this play about the town Salem that fell into mass hysteria after a group of girls Abigail Williams, Betty Parris, Ruth Putnam, Tituba and Mary Warren wrongfully accused townspeople

The Second Red Scare was a period of heightened fears of the Soviet Union and the political ideology of Communism. The paranoia and hysteria inherent to this period led to discrimination of Communists. Joseph McCarthy was a main player in this Red Scare, which was sometimes called the “Witch-Hunts in Washington.” He was a Wisconsin senator who made claims against those whom he suspected of being Communists or Communist sympathizers.

During the 1950s there was a rise in the fear of communism called “The Red Scare”. Senator Joseph McCarthy was one of the many people who contributed to people’s fear by making a list of people who he said were communists even though there was no proof in most cases. In an article by Alan Brinkley called “The 1950s Part One: McCarthy and The Red Scare”, it informs, “McCarthy was only one of many who helped create the great fear. The Red Scare was visible in almost every area of American life” (Brinkley). This quote tell us that in the 1950s even though Senator Joseph McCarthy was a huge contributor to The Red Scare. His list of suspected communists made rumors spread and the people on the list get questioned and even go to jail when in some cases they were innocent. It also says in the article by USHistory.org called “McCarthyism: Witch Hunting and Blacklisting in America”, that, “In the 1950s anyone who was considered a communist could be questioned and thrown in jail” (USHistory.org). Which means that his allegations could have easily put people in prison.

“Are you now or were you ever?”, this was the question asked at a time in American history when everyone had a hard time trusting anyone. The topic being addressed here is how Miller’s statement is true. The statement shows the connection between Miller’s book “The Crucible” and The Red Scare, a situation during Millers time. The reason this is being brought to your attention is because Miller’s quote can still be applied to this day. This should be discussed so people can prevent a similar situation like Salem or The Red Scare from happening again. The idea that Miller is trying to convey to his audience is that at this day and age, including in the past, people still struggle to face their own problems and rather succumb to their own paranoia. This statement is true due to the fact that some people will lie at all cost to save themselves, people in authoritative positions aren’t always challenged when they should be, and people not realizing that their paranoia can spread like a wildfire.