What Are The Similarities Between Salem Witch Trials And The Era Of Mccarthyism

Mc McCarthyism was the practice of making accusations of subversion or reason without proper regard for evidence Senator Joe Mc carthy and chief counsel Roy Cohn interrogating suspected communists. At a speech in Wheeling, West Virginia, on February 9, 1950, Mc carthy proclaimed that he was aware of 205 card-carrying members of the Communist Party who worked for the United States Department of State.

For many years, there has been tons of comparison between the Salem Witch Trials and McCarthyism. Why you might be asking? Well first if you have read The Crucibles by now, you would know that Abigail accused innocent people of being witches. Similar to how Joseph McCarthy accused many people of communism. Both sides brought a downfall on many people because everyone was afraid that they could get accused next.

The McCarthy Trials on Communism were similar to The Salem Witch trials because in both cases people were wrongfully accused, and hurt by the accusations. The trials are different because The McCarthy Trials on Communism happened in the 1950s and hurt people’s jobs, while the Salem Witch Trials happened in the 1690s and innocent citizens of Salem were executed because people believed the devil was possessing women and men in the town. In the McCarthy Trials, McCarthy was a politician who promoted his own campaign by using biased information and accusations of the opposing candidates. Later in his career when he was running for re-election, his close friend Edmund Walsh suggested a crusade, or an organized campaign concerning a social, political,

“I have here in my hand a list of 205 State Department employees that were known to the Secretary of State as being members of the Communist Party and who nevertheless are still working and shaping the policy of the State Department”, McCarthy’s speech in the State Department, (“McCarthyism & the Red Scare”, History.com). The Red Scare era was a haywire of communist infiltrations during the Cold War, in the 1950s. On February 9th, 1950, Senator Joseph McCarthy a republican of Wisconsin, accused originally 205 state department employees of being a part of a communist party. McCarthy’s speech sparked an uproar of nationwide hysteria about the renegade people in the American government. Overall, McCarthy accused 224 people for being involved with a communist party. One of the 224 people, Arthur Miller, an american playwright who wrote The Crucible to warn the american people against the government misinformation. The Crucible is about the salem witch trials in 1692. He compared the witch trials in The Crucible to the McCarthy investigations. The Crucible, a play, written by Arthur Miller is an allegory for the Red Scare in the McCarthy Era, which took place in the 1950s, because of the false evidence provided, the false accusations, and the hearsay in the courts.

The evidence of witchcraft and related works has been around for many centuries. Gradually, though, a mixture a religious, economical, and political reasons instigated different periods of fear and uncertainty among society. Witchcraft was thought of as a connection to the devil that made the victim do evil and strange deeds. (Sutter par. 1) In the sixteenth, seventeenth, and twentieth century, the hysteria over certain causes resulted in prosecution in the Salem Witch Trials, European Witchcraft Craze, and the McCarthy hearings. These three events all used uncertain and unjustly accusations to attack the accused.

There is a phrase, 'those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.' The two events in history this paper will be comparing and contrasting, proves just that. Chronologically speaking, the Salem witch trials held in Salem Massachusetts, 1692, were a series of trials in which three women falsely accused over two hundred people and even one dog, of practicing witchcraft. The McCarthy era began many years later in 1950 and lasted 4 years until its unpopularity rose in 1954. The McCarthy era, much like the witch trials, were loosely a set of interrogations and trials against many people who were being convicted for something no one had proof of.

“I decline to make any such statement which I found demeaning; what right had any organization to demand anyones pledge of loyalty?” Those words, were Arthur Miller’s reply to the House of Un-American Activities Commision. In which he was being questioned and then later indicted and found guilty of contempt of congress. Just like the many characters in his book The Crucible, who refused to comply with the unjust questioning and in turn, point to another in order to keep their integrity amongst the court. The story is based on false accusations which lead to the downfall of their town, by the multiple deaths due to the corrupt system of court; which is very much similar to the McCarthyism era. The Crucible by Arthur Miller is an allegory considering, the fear of the respective crimes, biased acustations which lead to tainted trials and then the effects on one's life due to those corrupt sentences.

In Salem, Massachusetts in 1692, faith was central to the government, just as freedom was the basic foundation of the American government in 1947. Faith and Freedom are both taken personally to a sizable sum of people, but the true meaning of those words varies from each individual to the next. Despite the thought that each person owns their own definition of the words “Faith” and “Freedom”, people who resided in Salem in 1692 were judged so harshly due to the fact that they did not have the same beliefs or morals as politicians or others who were put in charge above them. Salem is a direct parallel to the McCarthy era when people were accused of being communist due to a different thought system that they possessed that others in the government

The Crucible by Arthur Miller is an allegory for the Red Scare in the McCarthy Era because in both The Crucible and the McCarthy Era, people accused others, were punished, and did whatever they had to to keep themselves out of trouble.

“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

n the time of being treated like nothing, there were multiple things that made people feel that way and were brought to light. McCarthyism and The Crucible were examples of horrifying events in history that gave a whole new meaning to unfair trials. For witches, if they were found guilty, their life would be spared. If they chose to stay with God, they were killed for choosing the right choice. The Crucible and McCarthyism are very alike and different because of the way Arthur Miller made people feel based on assumptions.

In this process essay the reader will learn how the Salem Witch Trials and McCarthyism are similar. Both situations ended up taking on a mob mentality. The Salem Witch Trials started in 1690s when the Trials began, and by the end, over 200 people were accused of witchcraft. The people had a strong belief of the devil and were very religious. The outside threats that were surrounding the people of Salem had created a fear and suspicion within the town. Eventually, the people in Salem realized their mistakes.

Communism. Witchcraft. These two highly controversial topics are either feared or adored by people. There are numerous similarities and differences between both, yet one thing is prominent: they both incite hysteria. The Crucible by Arthur Miller is an allegorical play mirroring 1950’s America during the Red Scare. “McCarthyism” is the act of accusing someone of an act of treason without substantial evidence. It relies on the uncertainty and the fear of the unknown among people, which in turn, incites hysteria. Joseph McCarthy accused many people of being communists without much evidence or reason. The accusations in The Crucible also are proposed without evidence and cause much hysteria among the town. Since The Crucible was written as an

If one observes the past, they will notice that history is inevitable to repeat itself, and that throughout time there have been several events that shape how we live today. Two examples of those are the Salem witch trials and McCarthyism, both of which were a string of trials that charged people with being things they were not. The trials took place in Colonial Massachusetts from 1692 to 1693, while McCarthyism lasted from 1950-1957. The Salem witch trials involved accusations against alleged witches while the era of McCarthyism consisted of investigations held against alleged communists. Despite the two being over two hundred fifty years apart, they were still caused by the same basic reasons. The Salem witch trials and McCarthyism also had many resemblances. These included false accusations against citizens, unfair trials without any substantial evidence to prove a person’s innocence or guilt, and a widespread fear in the society against the people accused of the supposed crimes.

“A trial without witnesses, when it involves a criminal accusation, a criminal matter, is not a true trial.” - Bill McCollum. ‘The Crucible’ was a play written by Arthur Miller in 1953. It portrayed the obvious similarities between McCarthyism and The Salem Witch Trials. McCarthyism was a campaign against potential communists in the 1950’s led by Joseph McCarthy. The accused were blacklisted from their jobs even though the majority were innocent. The witch trials that took place in Salem, Massachusetts was the accusation and prosecution for witchcraft that took place between 1692 and 1693. The Salem witch Trials resulted in the execution of 20 people. There are many similarities between McCarthyism and ‘The Crucible’ including completely false accusations, a refusal to lie and confess to these accusations, and there is a clear lack of evidence in both the play and the trials.