In both The Crucible and the McCarthy hearings, persecution of certain people in society is the root of the crises. Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy from Wisconsin gave a speech in Wheeling, West Virginia on February 9, 1950. He made a very critical point in his speech that he possessed a list of two hundred and five American State Department members of the Communist party. Although he explained some cases in detail, he made several flaws, such as repeating and skipping some of them, proving that his account was not completely accurate. By 1953 he had destroyed many Democrats including Ernst McFarland, Francis Myers, senators Millard Tydings (Maryland), Scott Lucas (Illinois), and Elbert Thomas (Utah)(Herman). Through indicting numerous Democrats in the United States government of treason, McCarthy was clearly persecuting his opposing party. His next target in May 1954 was to be the United States Army, particularly its secretary, Robert Stevens (Frie

The persecution stories of McCarthy and The Crucible parallel each other in stunning ways. McCarthy is known for not creating the communist problem, but for exploiting it “shamelessly for political ends” (Theoharis); as the Salem girls are known not for creating the law against witchcraft, but for using it to their benefit. Arthur Miller did not have the need to alter history’s story of the witch trials in order for him to make the point that McCarthy’s hunt for Communists was truly a twentieth century witch hunt.

Senator Joseph McCarthy and the Salem witch accusers never would have rose to fame without public support. After McCarthy gave his speech in Wheeling, America was frightened that Communism was present in the government. Out of this fear, fifty percent of Americans supported McCarthy before the hearings.(Feuerlicht) By taking full advantage of the fact that most of the American population detested the Communists, McCarthy obliterated the Democratic Party (Herman). “His portrayal of Communism as the supreme evil allowed his accusations of ‘disloyalty’ to be incredibly effective.”(Friedman) When government officials opposed him, he, along with the support of American civilians, would accuse them of being Communist. For this, McCarthy is rightfully described as being, “…A master of the soundbite, and played the press like a harp.”(Theoharis) This resembles how the Salem witch trials run in The Crucible. The girls gain support from the community because they know that if there is witchcraft occurring, it is up to them to discern the evil spirits. Salem depends on Abby’s clique to distinguish between good and evil, therefore the girls can point their fingers at anyone they wish and be supported fully. By the time the accusations become out of hand, Danforth realize

Some topics in this essay:
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