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The impact of mccarthyism
The impact of mccarthyism
Summary over joseph mccarthy on communism
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More handpicked essays just for you.
The impact of mccarthyism
The impact of mccarthyism
Summary over joseph mccarthy on communism
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
For this book project we were asked to make a group presentation covering Senator Joe McCarthy, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations circa 1950, Communism, and The Salem Witch Trials. The purpose of the assignment was to achieve a better understanding of the concepts and motivation behind Arthur Miller's book, The Crucible. For this group project I researched and presented on the sub-topic Joe McCarthy. Our requirements included having a minimum of one illustration on each slide, three accurate facts relating to our sub-topic, and a minimum of two references to The Crucible with page numbers and an explanation of how it relates to our sub-topic. It was expected that each person had two to three slides of information, a minimum
McCarthy doesn’t know for sure whether or not any of the politicians he is accusing are guilty are not. Everyone listens to him though because he is saying what they want to hear. These are ways that rumors start when someone is looking to you, and you just want power. Joseph McCarthy is just like the girls in “The Crucible” he wants to be heard, while also having power. In both these instances they get more than what they thought they were
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.
The times back then were terrible. The Crucible is a play written by Arthur Miller in 1953 about The Salem Witch Trials of 1692.McCarthyism was the “witch hunt” for the communist in 1953.the parallels between The Crucible and McCarthyism are naming names,lack of proof ,and reststance. The first reason they are parallel is because of naming names. Hollywood director Elia Kazan went in front of the HUAC twice. The first time he did not confess and names.
Almost every kid in school has read a passage or a story, and never really understood the purpose of learning the topic in school. The teachers expect us to do the work, and hopefully understand it, but we never truly understand why we learned such a topic or event. The Crucible is a prime example on what students read in school, or why we’re obligated to read the book. The crucible and McCarthyism have many similarities that many people over look, and don’t realize, and connects more than we perceive. Books like the crucible and McCarthy are historical events, many schools have very few books based on historical events, which is why teachers spend more time on them.
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.
Mass hysteria was present in both The Crucible and McCarthyism. Mass hysteria is when people went crazy because people were accused of being communists and or witches. Mass hysteria was however started by specific people in both scenarios. In Mccarthyism Joseph Mccarthy a United States Senator and in The Crucible Abigail Williams who was accused of having an affair with John Proctor her employer were the specific ones who accused people of being communists and witches. Even though the Salem witch trials happened in the late 1690s and McCarthyism in the 1950s they paralleled each other.
The Crucible is a playwright of the Salem witch trials that was written by Arthur Miller as an allegory for McCarthyism in the 1950s. Allegations from the characters in the Crucible very closely related to the claims made by Senator Joseph McCarthy. Both situations caused mass hysteria that contributed by the people of Salem and McCarthy. The accusations of McCarthy caught the attention of many people and the US Federal government. Communism during this time was frightening because the US was apart of a cold war with the Soviet Union.
In the play, The Crucible, Salem, Massachusetts, along with the United States during McCarthyism, is engulfed with paranoia. Although both situations include different causes, their effects are strikingly similar. For instance, throughout The Crucible, Abigail Williams is being shown repeatedly accusing innocent people of witchcraft. Her actions begin sending the small town into a panic as they throw people into jail and hang them in an effort to try and cleanse the town from any aspect of evil. Similarly, throughout 1950-1954, Joseph McCarthy falsely accused people within the United States Government of being a member of the Communist party.
With all of the accusations going around, people were forgetting that everyone can have their own opinion. Edward R Murrow, a television host of See It Now bashed McCarthy by saying “’We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty’” (Roberts, 2). Murrow was saying that just because a person disagrees with what the president or a government official says, does not mean they are a communist. The United States has freedom of speech, and citizens can say whatever they want about the government.
Albert Einstein once said,“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.” This quote shows the importance of human nature because most of the topics I researched all started by someone noticing something out of the ordinary and making it something it is not. Humans do not like change so when something happens that they are not use to, they do not know how to react. Some view it as stupidity, but to the person it is their only way to react.
Zebediah Tibbles Ms. Sell English 11 16 May 2024 McCarthyism and The Salem Witch Trials Imagine living in a time where you could be accused of witchcraft and hanged for dancing in a forest. The Crucible is a dramatized story of the Salem witch trials, set in the 1600’s. The author of the story, Arthur Miller, based this story off a problem of his time, which was McCarthyism. The Crucible is a story that effectively represents the 1600’s vocabulary and how nave people were to things they feared (especially witchcraft).
The past can repeat in the future, the past may not be exactly the same but it can have the similar circumstance. During the 1950’s McCarthyism had begun and Arthur Miller had begun to write his play The Crucible. Joseph McCarthy stimulated McCarthyism by going to court and accuse 205 people of being part of communist. People were terrified that they would be held for questioning about communism or that others are associated with communism which, became known as The Red Scare. McCarthyism had fallen when McCarthy wanted to investigate communist infiltration in the U.S. army and Dwight Eisenhower saw the fraud in him.
“The Crucible” is a play about the unfortunate Salem Witch Trials but if one dug deeper, the events of “The Crucible” closely relate to the events of McCarthyism in the 1950’s. The people during the 1950’s were very distraught and constantly looking over their shoulders in fear in search of Communists because they were a national and social threat to the Democratic Republic. People were turning their backs on their moral and personal values to point out yet another victim to the Communist chase. The US authoritative figures conjured a hysterical fear of their government collapsing and the people losing their rights which turned them into hypocritical pursuants. Arthur Miller targets these points in “The Crucible” with his knowledge of the Salem