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Parallels Between The Salem Witch Trials And Mccarthyism

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What are the parallels [similarities] between the Salem Witch trials and McCarthyism?

A scapegoat is one that is blamed for the wrongdoings of others. A common example could be blaming the dog for eating a snack that you actually ate. Have you ever found a scapegoat to take your blame? In 1957, Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible during the McCarthyism era to show how much fear and hysteria can and has already impacted America. The Crucible exaggerates the Salem witch trials of 1962-1963 which are similar to the McCarthyism era. The parallels between the Salem Witch trials and McCarthyism include blaming others, unreliable sources, and punishment if someone refuses to testify.

The first parallels between the Salem Witch trials and McCarthyism are blaming others to save …show more content…

McCarthy initially accused 205 people who worked in the State Department of being communist but when he sent the names to President Truman he only stated the names of 57 known “communists”(Doc C). Later, he accused 24 more people and that number eventually decreased to 10 people. This proves that McCarthy was an unreliable source of information regarding communists in the State department because his list kept changing. First, the list increased after he sparked a red scare and then greatly decreased as his political status fell. In the play, during a court trial Judge Danforth explains “We must rely upon her victims”(Doc D) because witchcraft can not be seen. Judge Danforth believed that the only way to track down the “witches” in Salem was to get information from teenage girls who supposedly had been victims of witchcraft. Abby and her friends put on acts during court faking that they were bewitched yet the whole town believed them because witchcraft is an “invisible crime”. The McCarthyism Era was portrayed in the play through having unreliable evidence to back the accusations being

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As the 1950’s continued, and the McCarthy trials along with it, Miller noticed that the trials had the same overall process of the Salem Trials so he began writing “The Crucible” hoping that his play would help people realize that McCarthyism may not be as justified as it seems (Miller Interview part 1.1). In a discussion between McCarthy and Joseph Welch-a special council for the army-about Fred Fisher-a lawyer and suspected communist who had been recommended by Welch to join McCarthy’s Committee-the topic of a “needlessly inflicted” scar on Fisher caused by McCarthy could make a person wonder how many more scars were given in this publicity stunt (“McCarthy-Welch

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On February 9, 1950, McCarthy showed a paper of two hundred and five people known to be communists. As time went by, this list became smaller and smaller. In about a week or so, this list went from two hundred and five people to ten. McCarthy did not have the evidence to prove that these people are truly communists to start with so this list just becomes smaller with time. In the Crucible, many people were accused of witchcraft and were sentenced to death.

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The Crucible, an allegorical play, was written by Arthur Miller because he observed and personally experienced events occurring in America during the McCarthyism Era in the 1950s that were similar to those of the Salem Witchcraft Trials in 1692. Now, there are various ways to how the Crucible and the McCarthyism Era are similar, these reasons being the strongest ones. McCarthyism and the Crucible both contained the idea of higher status people having the most power in these situations. To illustrate, Abby accuses the wife of a government man in the Crucible movie. Danforth tells Abby that she must be mistaken and that she should rethink about it again.

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In The Crucible, the Salem residents were afraid of the devil and his influence on their community, while in McCarthyism, Americans were afraid of Communist infiltration and the perceived threat it posed to their way of life. This fear led to suspicion that anyone could be a witch or a communist and anyone could be accused and punished without fair trial or evidence. The Miller Center has claimed that “American leaders repeatedly told the public that they should be fearful of subversive Communist influence in their lives. Communists could be lurking anywhere, using their positions as school teachers, college professors, labor organizers, artists, or journalists to aid the program of world Communist” This suggests that anyone, even high-looked people in society may be communists, which lead people to be fearful and paranoid. This is seen in the Crucible as well for example “The witch hunt was a perverse manifestation of the panic which is set in among all classes when the balance began to turn toward greater individual freedom” (Miller 13.)

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