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Mccarthy and witch trial comparison
Mccarthy and witch trial comparison
Mccarthy and witch trial comparison
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Mccarthy and witch trial comparison
Mccarthy and witch trial comparison
Mccarthy and witch trial comparison
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McCarthy manipulated the media, told outrageous stories about the communist conspiracy in the United States, and used his power and America’s fear to besmirch any opponents as “communist sympathizers” to make sure he remained at the top. Actually, most conservative members of Congress supported McCarthy because it helped them gain votes during elections. The majority of McCarthy 's movement attacked liberals and members of the Democratic Party and this aided anyone who was not part of those topics and organizations. Then McCarthy began to target the Army because they wouldn’t favor David Schine, one of his former investigators, who had been drafted in. “Senator Joseph McCarthy began hearings investigating the United States Army, which he charged with being ‘soft’ on communism.
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.
10 received jail time and were banned from working for the major Hollywood studios(Williams). It was hard for them to cope because they were not able to work and they were put in jail for things they didn't even do. Mccarthy most known targets were Owen Lattimore and Val Lorwin.¨In june 1953, J.B. Matthews was appointed as McCarthy's research director. In July, Matthews published an article called "Reds in our churches" in the conservative American Mercury. In it, Matthews referred to the Protestant clergy as " the largest single group supporting the Communist apparatus in the United States.(Victims of McCarthyism)".
McCarthy created the uproar of having a ‘witch hunt’ on communists in America. His influence on the people gave him credibility when he accused those innocent people. “He cited 81 cases that day. He skipped several numbers, and for some cases repeated the same flimsy information. He proved nothing, but the Senate called for a full investigation.”(ushistory.org).
The social and political climate had made the people worry about who was a communist or not. It puts fear into people's minds that people around you could be a communist. Arthur Miller had written the crucible as an analogy for McCarthyism because communism was comparable to the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. Everywhere, people were falsely accused, trials were unfair, and many lives were ruined.
The McCarthy hearings and the Salem witch trials relate because they both blacklisted citizens. During the McCarthy hearings, the HUAC committee believed that Communists were incorporating subversive messages into Hollywood films (Georgakas). Some of the people who were a part of these films were put on the Hollywood blacklist and most couldn’t continue their careers. Whoever hired them would be suspected of working with Communists, which made it extremely difficult for actors to land auditions. Not only were careers ruined, but some victims even spent a year in prison for their false crimes.
McCarthyism was the fear of communism which spread across America in the 1950s. The hysteria of the American citizens was due to the threat that communism would spread across the globe. The government has accused many people of communism,
The Soviet Union was on the verge of a nuclear war, so McCarthy put fear in everyone because no one had any idea who was a communist and who was not. He made everyone afraid to trust people, even the friends other had. They were afraid that they would be accused
This made more people believe that some Americans elites were actually secret communists. Which causes more people to be accused and be put in jail. Even though he gave the Soviet Union classified information, that doesn’t mean he should be trusted. More and more people are accused. McCarthy thinks that
The main accuser during this time was Joseph McCarthy. The people who were accused were just everyday people. Joseph McCarthy said that he knew people who are members of the communist party working for the government, he may have done this because he didn’t like those people. This scared everyone, primarily because during the years that followed WWII everyone feared communist. So after McCarthy made these statements, it almost made like a ripple effect by having everyday people, being accused of people that “suspected” that they were communists as well.
As the textbook mentions, Charlie Chaplin was the famous victim (LP 258). Due to the fact that he had been an advocate of “ popular front” policies, the U.S. Did not allow him to reenter America in 1952 even though he did not join any Communist Party (LP 258). The professors and teachers also were attacked by McCarthyism too. As the textbook states, “Although universities are allegedly institutions where “academic freedom” is practiced” (LP 258), many professor still came under attack. The famous physicist, J. Robert Oppenheimer, due to association with people on the political left when he was young, the government finally withdrew Oppenheimer`s security clearance and stained his reputation (LP
“The Hollywood Ten, McCarthyism, and the Witches of Hollywood” Back in 1947, when the Cold War with the Soviet Union had occurred, the House of Un-American Activities Committee was checking to see if any suspicious communists’ activity was going on in Hollywood. This event caused nine screenwriters and one film director (lvah Bessie, Herbert Biberman, Lester Cole, Edward Dmytryk, Ring Lardner Jr., John Howard Lawson, Albert Maltz, Sam Ornitz, Robert Adrian Scott, and Dalton Trumbo) to get arrested, and they were known as “The Hollywood Ten”. “During the investigations, HUAC coerced prominent people from the film industry to declare their patriotism and give up large names of colleagues suspected of having politically unfriendly tendencies”.
The new decision led to a cyclone of accusations because people realized the possibility of their condemnation regardless they were guilty or innocent. Many helped that system by untrue confessions to save their lives. Miller, among others, refused to surrender to questioning. People who were revealed communists suffered greatly (Bly 2-5).
They were unwilling to testify and were thrown in prison. There was no evidence that they were communist but it was the job of the Un-American activities committee to look into it like it is Beatty 's job to stop the spread of ideas from books and to look into possible
It was derived from the fear and hatred they had deep inside them. Mccarthy used this plot to get rid of his opponents and secure him a prime spot for a next term as a senator. McCarthy’s trials were no different to The Salem witch trials by raising suspitions he was able to destroy lives with a written list. Although people tried to contradict his allegations the majority’s fear of communists clouded the court’s judgement. They had no remorse for the aftermath of their doings.