History is known for having ways to replay itself, for example, the Salem Witch Trials and the McCarthy Trials. The Salem Witch Trials were a sequence of hearings and accusations that took place between 1692 and 1693. In these trials over 200 people were accused of having contact with the Devil and around 20 were victims of false accusations and death. The McCarthy trials, extremely similar, a series of hearing were Senator Joseph McCarthy accused the U.S. of allowing communist to have a seat in their government causing over 2,000 government members to lose their employment. Both the McCarthy Trials and Salem Witch Trials display history’s repetitions with the similarities of mass hysteria, the absence of proper evidence, and accused outcasts.
In addition to this, the murder happens on carnival, which is an environment filled with festivity. It is also not a good environment to have a murder take place in. This is illustrated by Kerry Michael Wood; “the ironies grow more numerous. It is the carnival season -
Bell witnesses the progression of evil around his own county and the way things have taken a turn for the worse when he says: “This county has not had a unsolved homicide in forty-one years. Now we got nine of em in one week” (216).
Crime and glimpses into the heads of criminal masterminds has always been something that fascinates people. Although crime is a terrible thing, the complexity and intricacy of it is something that people love to hear about. One can turn on the news at any given time and almost certainly hear an account of some form of a crime within ten minutes. In the novel In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, an account to a perplexing crime is taken to a whole new level. The Clutter family was a charming family of four that lived in the little town of Holcomb, Kansas. They were brutally murdered with no apparent motive by Dick Hickock and Perry Smith, two men that had
Hysteria (noun); meaning an exaggerated or uncontrolled emotion or excitement especially among other people. The Salem Witch Trial and McCarthyism’s connections run deeper than what appears on the surface. Joseph McCarthy was a U.S. senator. Joseph was born and raised in Appleton, Wisconsin during the early 1900’s. He was elected in 1946, four years later McCarthy came out publicly stating that there were around 205 communists that have invaded the U.S.. This makes him known for his ways of accusing those without actual factual evidence to prove his suspicions. Both of these incidents have caused a grand amount of hysteria and both happened because of suspicion and personal vendettas and both made a lasting impact on history (Brooks).
Bennett another reporter took a different approach to covering the murder. He was looking at the murder and wondering how a young respectable man could be accused of such a heinous crime. He refused to believe that this crime could be committed by a man with such a promising life ahead of him.
A key factor in the case of Walter McMillian was that he was an African American man who at one point was respected by his community. However, an extramarital affair with a white woman is what crossed the line. Affairs were not out of the norm in the Monroeville community, but given the fact that McMillian was black dramatically changed what was perceived as socially acceptable behavior. The significant questioning of McMillian’s character came into play when a young woman, Ronda Morrison was murdered. The profound change in the community’s view toward McMillian was an incentive to point to him as the mastermind behind the murder. The police were unable to produce any viable suspects which led to pressure from the community to find and convict a killer – even if the person accused was innocent. The interrogation tactics used during the questioning of suspects and witnesses produced false allegations. Tactics such as intimidation and bargaining. These practices encompassed covert operations that allowed the law enforcement – police, district attorneys, judges – to navigate the case. Several people were instrumental in concocting the false story placing McMillian at the center of the crime. After his initial lie, Ralph Myers’s was pushed by police to produce additional information which although false, was used by police to arrest McMillian. As the story gained traction in the town,
"Our job as Americans and as Republicans is to dislodge the traitors from every place where they 've been sent to do their traitorous work."(McCarthy, Joseph R.)
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.
Another Information that imparted Arthur Miller was McCarthy trials. This story was like the Salem Witch Trials where there were accusations of innocent people, but the only difference is that this was based on communism. Many people do not like communism especially the Americans after World War Two. That is normal because nobody wants to be under a dictatorship. Everyone wants to have freedom, and nobody wants to be a slave. In accordance with History website, many Americans were frightened when Senator Joseph McCarthy said that there were communist people infiltrated in the American government because the United States Army was soft on communism. As a result, a lot of politicians lost their job, but they also were put in a blacklist where it was difficult to find job. Fortunately, the conclusion for this story was that Senator Joseph McCarthy was lying, and all those things he said were for political interest (History.com Staff). No one can forget that the United States was involved in World War Two just a few years before, in other words, the United States could not tell the Soviet Union that The United States would not accept more communism in the world. The Soviet Union was another strong country as well as the United States. A disagreement could bring military conflicts between the two nations; therefore, the United States Army had to be passive and intelligent on communism. That is why the accusations that Senator Joseph McCarthy had said were in his own interest.
Two of the major events in history are the salem witch trials and Mccarthysim. Both of this events have similaritis like how they both accused innocent people wiyh out evidence and also they created fear with in the people.even though they have this thinhs in common the also have diffrences.
Eliot Ness was an American Prohibition agent with an incredibly clean reputation, coming from his achievement of bringing down Al Capone; the leader of an infamous and illegal lawyer group in Chicago. His clean reputation brought attention and he was hired as the Cleveland’s new Safety Director and was then hired on the case of the brutal murders in Kingsbury Run. With his credibility on the line, he accepted the job. Ness investigated the case and landed on Francis E. Sweeney, a mad doctor who, “...was a surgeon who started developing paranoid schizophrenia in 1929” (Badal 2010). Among the threads of evidence that could possibly link anyone to the crime were the cuts and injuries the bodies sustained. The bodies were dismembered in a way that
2. Who was Ron Goldman and why was he with Nicole the night of the murder?
McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of subversion or treason without proper regard for evidence (“McCarthyism”). The Salem Witch Trials was when more than 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft and 20 were killed because of these accusations (Brooks). During the Red Scare like there are accusations of people committing treason during the Red Scare. In The Crucible people are accused of being witches during the Salem Witch trials. There are many similarities and differences between the Red Scare and the Salem Witch trials. These similarities and differences were that, during those times many people were afraid of Communism. The Soviet Union was becoming more powerful and there was the threat of a nuclear disaster. Europe had become a mixture of Communist groups. The Chinese and Americans began to feel that were being threatened by the Communists (“Red Scare”). In The Crucible Salem established itself as a religious community in the midst of evil. The Puritans considered the forest the domain of the devil. Salem was surrounded by forest. Paranoia ensued (Brooks). The differences were, in the Red Scare no one was killed if they were accused. Instead most of them committed suicide. In The Crucible if you were accused of being a witch and didn’t confess to it then you were killed. If you confessed to being a witch, then you were killed. Either way you were killed if you were accused of being a witch.