‘a Witch-Hunt’ Discuss This View of Mccarthyism

“Miller also observes the tremendous forces that mere accusation had at this time, something that was evident as well in the McCarthy witch-hunts. A man’s career could be ruined if he were merely asked, “Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist party?””

In Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” it tells the tale of the Salem Witch Trials. At the time of the play, the McCarthy trials, named after Sen. Joseph McCarthy, were underway. Though, instead of hunting for witches, they were hunting for communists. These two trials may have happened at different points in history, but were in many ways the same. Whether it was death to job loss a lot of lives were changed on account of these trials. “The Crucible” and the McCarthy trials have become historically important because they show the process of power, fear, and turmoil.

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.”

Hundreds of years later, the United States entered the time of the “Red Scare”. In this time, Americans were still very apprehensive of Communists. On April 22, 1954, Army hearings began. Senator Joseph McCarthy accused the United States Army of being too “soft” on communism. This really began in 1950, however, when McCarthy claimed that there were over 200 known communists in the Department of State (“Army-McCarthy” History.com). As Abigail did with the Witch trials, McCarthy began accusing innocents of crime to benefit his own personal agenda.

"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."

Have you ever known someone to be falsely accused? This is precisely what happened in the Salem Witch Trials in the late 1600’s. A group of young girls in Salem Village, Massachusetts, claimed that they were possessed by the devil and accused several local women of witchcraft. These accusations resulted in the paranoia of an entire community and multiple individuals being sentenced to death without being proven guilty. McCarthyism acted in the same way by creating hysteria over the spread of communism. People were assumed to be communists based purely off of the word of other citizens. The Salem Witch Trials and McCarthyism both punished innocent people for crimes that they were falsely accused of.

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.

to the McCarthyism, it is worldly-wise to relate to modern day “witch trials”. One very strong

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

McCarthyism, named after Joseph McCarthy was a period of intense anti-communism, which occurred in the United States from 1948 to about 1956. During this time the government of the United States persecuted the Communist party USA, its leadership, and many others suspected of being communists. The word McCarthyism now carries the suggestion of false, hysterical accusation and large scale attacks on a minority. This anticommunist crusade stumbled in 1954, when the hearings were televised allowing the press and

“McCarthyism was a campaign against alleged communists in the US government and other institutions carried out by Senator Joseph McCarthy in 1950-1954 (authentichistory.com by: Michael Barnes)”. McCarthyism is when people make false accusations about someone or something with out evidence to back it up. During the cold war Joseph McCarthy had made many false accusations about having a large number of communists and soviet spies in our government feeding top-secret information to Russia, which was not true. McCarthyism didn’t just spread false accusations through out the nation it also spread fear and dread for many. I believe that McCarthyism is just like the Salem witch trials in one way would be that

The best well-known literary work dealing with McCarthyism is the Arthur Miller drama, The Crucible. In many ways the story of the Salem Witch Trials began in Europe; historian Brian Levack explains that the great European Witch Hunts stretched from the 1450’s to the 1750’s. During the McCarthy Era in America, fear, and anxiety grew over the goals and tactics of international communism. The term McCarthyism has become synonymous with “witch hunts” it describes the techniques used in the early 1950’s by Senator McCarthy, the committee conducted public hearings on supposed infiltration by communists of the United States government especially the State Department, and the entertainment industry. There are many similarities between McCarthyism

Other important members of the government that joined Joseph McCarthy’s Communist manhunt was soon-to-be president Harry S. Truman and the HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee) was created (“Red Scare”). Harry S. Truman was a strong anti-Communist Republican, whom McCarthy accused of being “soft” towards the idea of Communists hidden in the government (“Blacklisting”). Truman knew McCarthy had no evidence of there being over 100,000 Americans involved in the Communist Party, but he went along with the accusations to earn a “hero” title towards the citizens in the U.S -- doing anything to further himself in the Presidential race (Littel). Although Truman wrongfully won the title of President, it was McCarthy’s doing by practicing un-American acts by publicly humiliating Truman by saying he was “soft” towards the Red Scare. McCarthy was representing traits opposite of what “Americanism” means by sabotaging Truman and falsely accusing thousands of Americans of practicing Communist

Sam Roberts in the article on “A Decade of Fear”, argues that McCarthyism turned Americans against each other. Roberts supports his claim by illustrating fear, describing betrayal, and comparing it to other U.S. internal conflicts. The author’s purpose is to point out a vulnerable period in American history in order to demonstrate that Americans fell prey to McCarthy’s negative propaganda. The author writes in a tragic tone for an educated audience. I strongly agree with Roberts’s claim. McCarthyism caused the American people to turn against each other because of self preservation, bomb threats, and paranoia.

During the era of McCarthyism, the country was divided by McCarthy’s accusations, threats, and intimidating tactics. Many Americans were accused of being Communist, both by their government, friends, neighbors and co-workers who had lost their jobs because of being accused of being Communists. McCarthyism had an enormous effect on the emotional aspect of the country. Non-Communists had to endure the trauma of being accused by their own country. McCarthy’s tactics were dishonorable, as was stated in the video, “McCarthyism,” McCarthy exploited the “Red Scare” for political gain; he claimed to have a list of people that were affiliated with Communism. He threatened the president, used severe intimidation, and threatened prison, when trying to