Mccarthyism: Salem Witch Trials

Today we face terrorism from radical groups in other countries, and some that are even already

Numerous things in history can apply to one another in different aspects. The comparison between the Salem Witch Trials and McCarthyism is a credible example of events in history that parallel one another. With an analysis of these two historical events, it can be seen that panic and chaos were ever-present in these times. It is evident that this chaos ruined the lives of many people, as people were accused of being witches and communists without reason. The Salem Witch Trials and McCarthyism held wild fears that witchcraft and communism would suppress society if drastic changes were not made. The Crucible by Arthur Miller is an allegory in relation to McCarthyism.

"The McCarthy Era of the 1950's and the Salem Witch Trials of the 1600's were major events in American history that destroyed the lives and careers of many innocent victims. These tragic events were similar in that they demonstrated how hard times lead to society's need to find a scapegoat. They also show the shame and regret that take place after the bloodbaths occur. The parallels between these two events, which took place almost 300 years apart, are remarkable."

McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence (SOURCE). McCarthyism is a form of witch hunt. Witch hunt and McCarthyism have the same basic definition; an effort to discover disloyalty or dishonesty with little to no relevant

include persecution of the accused, large-scale scares in the involved communities, and the incarceration of many innocent people. People in Salem, as well as the United States during the Red Scare, were always on edge for any hints of these offenders.

The Salem Witch Trials and the McCarthy era were dark times in American history. During the Salem Witch Trials in 1692, a group of young Puritan girls in Salem, Massachusetts claimed to be possessed by the Devil and accused several women of witchcraft. Hundreds of people were accused and about 20 of them were put to death. Fear and hysteria mounted as outlandish claims were made by the young Puritan girls at the trials. The McCarthy era was another time of paranoia and hysteria in the U.S., but during the 1950s. The term McCarthyism comes from Joseph McCarthy who was a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin. He spearheaded a drive to defeat the infiltration of Communism in the U.S. He claimed over 200 Communists had infiltrated the U.S. but offered no evidence to prove it. There are important learnings from the Salem Witch Trials and the McCarthy era that are applicable

Mc McCarthyism and the Salem witch trial is alike because people were able to accuse people without out any evidence .people accused innocence

What is The Salem Witch Trials and McCarthyism? Well, The Salem Witch Trials and McCarthyism are somewhat similar. Both happened around the same time and in the same year. The Salem Witch Trials had to do with witches. Girls committed sins by dancing in the woods and drinking blood, while guys had affairs and tried lying for the girls in the courthouse.

A review of A Fever in Salem: A New Interpretation of the New England Witch Trials, by Laurie Winn Carlson, Ivan R. Dee, Chicago, 2000; 224 pp. $14.95 Paperback. ISBN: 1-566633095

McCarthyism, like the Salem Witch Trials and the Holocaust, targeted a specific group of people and was caused from one person blaming others based on suspicion. Senator Joseph McCarthy rose to power because he “capitalized on national paranoia by proclaiming that communist spies were omnipresent and that he was America’s only salvation” (U.S. History, “McCarthyism”). Since there had already been cases where government employees were convicted of being spies for communist countries, fear and panic struck Americans quickly which caused them to turn to Senator McCarthy for safety. During the 1950s, Americans had a logical reason to fear communism because they were at war with other countries that have a communist government. This fear was rooted from the belief that if the United States lost the war, the Americans would lose their freedom of speech, not have their own religious beliefs, and lose their land (“Why did Americans fear communism”). Now that America has been an established federal government, the McCarthyism era is seen as an unnecessary part of United States history because thousands of people lost their jobs based on little to no evidence of committing espionage. The same accusations made by McCarthy are extremely similar to those from Abigail Williams and Elizabeth Parris in the Salem Witch Trials. In both the McCarthyism Hearings and the Salem Witch Trials, the

In the witch hunt trials you could not prove to anyone that someone is a witch. It got to the point where they had to stop using “Spectral Evidence” so they do not get so many accusations. The only way they believed them is if they said “She cursed me with witchcraft”. Since you can not see witchcraft, how can you believe it? They had to take their word for it because they did not want to be accused. McCarthyism did the same thing. During a speech in Wheeling, McCarthy came on stage and said he had a list of 205 names of communists in the Secretary of State. Later after the speech, he wrote a letter to president Truman and the list of 205 went down to 57. The names listed probably were not even true. There was no evidence that led him to believe that they were

There is one thing that is made, always different along being the same. That is history, it can either be good or bad with every passing minute. A recurring pattern has been seen, throughout time and history. The Salem Witch trials and the McCarthy trials is one of these patterns.They both hold an event of accusing others of being something with dubious evidence. Both holding a fear of a certain type of people being among them. Each having an ideal figure to follow that lead to chaos.

McCarthyism was about finding out who was involved with communism and Joseph McCarthy was trying to figure out what was happening on the inside of our Government. If someone was accused of doing witchcraft would be hanged or be questioned if anyone else was doing witchcraft. McCarthy had a list of people he was taken to hearings to find out what was happening, he had some people from his list that were spies from the Soviet Union and McCarthy asked very deep questions about what the individual did 10 years ago. McCarthy did not kill anyone or did what the Salem witch trials did they hang people for being blamed for doing witchcraft without hard evidence of that person actually committing the actual crime. When the Salem witch trials were happening there was no way of proving that those who were accused innocent it was hard to get by the people that were in charge of the town. McCarthy did his own thing with picking out big named people that he had thought were involved with having to do something with communism and McCarthy was the judge, jury, and executioner and that is was going to be hard for those who were being convicted of being apart of communism. When the Red Scare was happening the people being accused had a chance to fight what they were being convicted of but in Salem people had a hard time trying to

During the Salem witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts and McCarthyism all across America many of the traits were historically similar and based on little or no evidence. When looking back on witchcraft in the 1600s and McCarthyism in the 1940s and 50s life at the time had many influences and many things parallel; both were caused by fear and paranoia and resulted in destruction.

During the Salem Witch Trials, the village of Salem used religion as the medium to justify their irrationality and pure skepticism of the "different" practices that seemingly invaded their quaint, conservative society. Consequently, the village claimed that these "different" individuals were deviating from and/or betraying God's teachings, to fuel their contempt and justify their "cleansing", despite there being no true correlation. In contrast, the foundation of the McCarthy Era was based upon political conflict, in which the extremely different ideologies of democracy and communism clashed in a brutal war, both physically and socially. The newly founded communist ideology received much criticism and raw hate as it was attributed to despised enemy nations, such as Russia and China. However, despite the overwhelming abhorrence towards communism, some covert individuals in America were quite intrigued and accepted the ideology. As a result, a "witch hunt" was ensued to expose and maraud these individuals that have accepted this "different" ideology, using political patriotism to power their discriminatory cause. Overall, this social difference between the Salem Witch Trials and the McCarthy Era lends itself to the perspectives and social structure of their respective time