The Second Red Scare

Hysteria, paranoia, and delusion was what drove the Salem Witch trials in 1692. Many people were executed by decision of the court because it believed in absurd false allegations. Justice in the court was perverted by fear and delusion (Johnson 9). In the 1940s and 1950s, many people in the United States were living in fear of communism; similar to those who feared “witches” in Salem. In the 1953, Arthur Miller came out with a play: The Crucible based on the Salem Witch Trials tackling McCarthyism; accusing others of being communists trying to overthrow democracy in the United States (9-10).

A young senator named John McCarthy, made a public accusation that more than 200 “card carrying” commies infiltrated the U.S. government. Eventually his accusations were proved to be untrue. The delusional girls made unsubstantiated claims of the existence of witches in Salem, though they had no proof. These claimed ruined lives and increased hostility.

The breeding ground for McCarthyism was fertile. Paranoia permeated. In Arthur Milers parable of contemporary life, The Crucible depicted Salem, a religious community, mired in evil. The forest was the devil’s domain, and Salem was encircled by forest. Paranoia permeated.

In fact, “The Salem Witchcraft Trials have taken on an iconic role in American history, and an unjust search for scapegoats is now commonly referred to as a “witch hunt”” (Billings). Now, during the McCarthy Era, an author called Arthur Miller wrote The crucible, a story “about witchcraft at Salem in 1692, and it was inspired by the social and political climate in the United States in the 1950’s” (Bloom 66) The 1962 Salem characters in Miller’s play represented the Americans that were accused of being communist or sympathizing with communists (Trevino).

Each authoritative body during the real thing, the McCarthy trials, and the interpreted version of the political standpoint, The Crucible, used Witch hunts to find every last culprit of either witchcraft or communism. Every last one of them had to be found in order to save the government from being overthrown or the small town of Salem to be cursed by the devil: “Investigators were launched into the activities of various people suspected of being affiliated with the communist Party. These people included government officials, Hollywood actors, and writers, leftists, members of the armed services, and others.” (McCarthyism) This shows that the U.S. government used the metaphorical term, “Witch Hunts” to search for those who were a part of the testimonies and plans to overthrow the government.

History repeating itself:The Crucible and McCarthyism The Crucible and McCarthyism is like history repeating itself. Both events are very parallel in many ways! The Crucible consists of how people were treated during the Salem witch trials in the 1690s and McCarthyism took place in 1940s/1950s it consists of how people were accused and treated as a threat to the government. The Crucible and McCarthyism both are parallel by accused people making sacrifices to prove innocence,abuse of great power and the effects of hysteria in both events. Looking back, One similarity on how the Crucible and McCarthyism are parallel is because of the sacrifice people made because they did

In the 1940 's and 1950 's, an anti-Communist movement swept the United States of America. Fueled by the anti-Communist actions of Congress, particularly a Senator from Wisconsin by the name of Joseph McCarthy, the movement escalated and many people lost their jobs as a result of various blacklists. Congressional hearings, both in front of HUAC and McCarthy Senate committee were a study in organized persecution. The actions taken during the "Red Scare" were eventually given the general name McCarthyism. McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of subversion or treason without proper regard for evidence.

In times of fear and hysteria in the U.S. it is mass chaos and it only gets worse and worse. During the time of both the witch-hunt eras, whether for communist or actual witches, they prove to have many similarities between them. Both of these times were full of confusion and lying which lead to the temporary downfall of the authority at that time. Joseph McCarthy proved to be a factor in this time and add on to the chaos that was America. Arthur Miller wrote about these times in a book called The Crucible, based on the witch trial era.

We’re hunting Communists” the government is chasing after Communist but hurting people in the meantime. In “Half Hanged Mary” the town hangs a woman called by Mary Webster for witchcraft. “Under stress, a society will always scapegoat a person or a group of people” in hopes to get rid of a huge issue at stake, not thinking of the damages of the people not associated with the problem. A presentable text to justify this statement is The Crucible by Arthur Miller. In this story a small village in Salem, Massachusetts has a scare of witchcraft.

Sarah Paroya D period I hate MUSH The end of World War II should have marked a period of relief in America but instead, it lead America into a completely different type of war called the Cold War. The Cold War was an ongoing state of political and military tension between the United States and the Soviet Union. This constant state of tension and fear had been embedded deep in the American public.

People were terrified of communism spreading to the United States, so when accusations started floating around everyone would believe them. McCarthy accused people of communist behavior, although many were falsely accused, no one knew better than to think they were guilty because of how scared they were of communism spreading. This resembles how certain characters were accused of witchcraft in The Crucible. The Red Scare caused nationwide hysteria just how the Salem Witch Trials caused hysteria to the people of Salem.

However, during the time of McCarthyism, people suddenly believed if a person went against the government thoughts, they were a communist. Similarly, this is like a time in The Crucible when a mass amount of women were arrested for witchcraft. After Mary Warren comes home from watching the witchcraft trials, John Proctors asks if it is true if only fourteen women arrested. Instead Mary Warren replies, “No, sir. There be thirty-nine now” (Miller, Act II).

The Salem witch trials proved to be one of the most cruel and fear driven events to ever occur in history. Many innocent people were accused of witchcraft, and while some got out of the situation alive not everyone was as lucky. Arthur Miller the author of The Crucible conveys this horrific event in his book and demonstrates what fear can lead people to do. But the reason as to why Arthur Miller felt the need to write The Crucible in the first place was because the unfortunate reality that history seemed to have repeated itself again. In the article “Are You Now or Were You Ever”, Arthur Miller claims that the McCarthy era and the Salem witch trials were similar and he does this through his choice of diction, figurative language, and rhetorical questions.

The Salem Witch Trials and the 1950’s Red Scare are easily relatable considering that the two events killed several innocent lives, when that individual did nothing wrong. The community around has always been a place where secrets and grudges are held against someone. During the Salem Witch Trials, according to Arthur Miller’s play “The Crucible” and the Red Scare, it focused on how much power a character could have, and that one character also can lead to convincing the community to be with them or against their personal thoughts. Furthermore, the power that is lead to one's head could destroy the thoughts of other about yourself as an individual.

The McCarthy hearings and the Salem witch trials accurately represent the saying, "Desperate times call for desperate measures. " In the 1950s, the McCarthy hearings tainted lives by falsely accusing those in the film industry of being associated with Communism. In the 17th century, the Salem witch trials charged innocent villagers of practicing witchcraft. Victims from the McCarthy hearings were isolated and ruined, while victims from the Salem trials were hanged and shunned.