McCarthyism and The Crucible
Please choose ONE of the following three quotes and respond by either remarking upon connections between the plot of Miller's The Crucible (reread pp. 33-36) and McCarthyism OR by reflecting on present-day events and the play and McCarthyism.
Follow the comments link below to enter in your response (about 200 words). Include the first letter of your name and your full last name at the conclusion of your comment.
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Due date: Monday, Jan. 17
McCarthy Quotes:
"I have here in my hand a list of two hundred and five (people) that were known to the Secretary of State as being members of the Communist Party and who nevertheless are still working and shaping the policy of the State Department"
"McCarthyism is Americanism with its sleeves rolled."
ByDr. George Lundberg:
"An era of chemical McCarthyism is at hand, and "guilty until proven innocent" is the new slogan."
posted by Sharon Peters at 9:00 PM
26 Comments:
This quote by Senator Joe McCarthy demonstrates how he labeled many innocent people as communists during the 1950’s. He often had no proof, however, people believed him out of fear. Many thought that communism would soon take over the American democratic way of life. This caused them to make irrational decisions and trust McCarthy’s false allegations. Innocent people, who were believed to be part of the communist party, were victimized and condemned to jail.
McCarthy’s way of thinking relates to the plot and theme of the Crucible. As depicted by Arthur Miller, early in the year 1962, many harmless people were accused of being witches and practicing witchcraft throught the small village of Salem in Massachusetts. These “witches” were hung unless they confessed that they had called upon the devil.
The theme of intolerance is reoccuring throughout the play as many innocent people are believed to be witches, without sufficient proof. Although witchcraft does not exist, people were easily tricked into believing that it did. Whenever something unusual occurred in the village, people assumed and believed that it was the work of the devil. In both cases of McCarthyism as well as The Crucible, the theme of bigotry is present, and in both cases innocent people were charged with false accusations.
B. Griffiths
McCarthy's statement that labels people as Communists without any hard proof but his own suspicions is a parallel to The Crucible and the Salem witch trials.
This particular statement began the frenzy of the McCarthy trials and demonstrated how even one man's accusations can lead to great consequences if his allegations have tapped into the people's greatest fear at the time. During the McCarthy trials, the country was in a state of paranoia against the Communist party. Any mention of communism may have sparked a series of non-substantial accusations and confessions. McCarthy's motive was unclear, however, he did have personal gain; once an unknown senator, he soon became a household name and now is one of the most infamous politicians of our time. The McCarthy trials, much like The Crucible, proves that fear can provoke people to turn their back on the law and accuse their neighbours and friends of the most unlikely crimes without any proof to support them.
In The Crucible, the town of Salem is run on a theocracy. Therefore, the town's greatest fear is the devil and anyone who appears to be performing the devil's work. Abigail and the girls struck into the core of the town's fears and accused others of witchcraft. Out of fear and perhaps self-gain, the courts believed the girls without having presented any hard evidence.
Although the McCarthy and Salem witch trials used different fear tactics, both the McCarthy trials and The Crucible demonstrated that people will surrender law and reason when faced with their worst fear.
T. Litvack
When Senator McCarthy proclaimed “I have here in my hand a list of two hundred and five (people) that were known to the Secretary of State as being members of the Communist Party and who nevertheless are still working and shaping the policy of the State Department” he did not have hard evidence to back up these accusations. He was merely accusing them so he could instil his governmental conformist beliefs. These falsely-backed accusations are a lot like those made by the town girls in The Crucible. Though they were merely inaccurate claims made by the girls, accusing people in the town of witchcraft without any proof, upon testifying, the best answer to them seemed to be to blame someone else. It was the fear of being accused that caused people to turn against each other and it was this tactic that McCarthy used in his trials. He knew that at the time, a Communist scare was terrorizing the United States and he took advantage of it. He used peoples’ fear of being wrongfully accused in order to essentially ruin their lives. When McCarthy made his accusations, the people who were forced to a hearing would simply add another name to his “communist list” in order to shift the attention from themselves to someone else. The mind-frame was: “If my life is ruined, I might as well try and bring someone down with me.” These two incidences prove that ordinary, trustworthy people are able to publicly backstab an acquaintance in order to save themselves. This is the human behaviour pattern that McCarthy exploited, and in the Crucible it is shown that such a style of persecution can occur anywhere at any time.
A. Shapiro
Innocence and guilt were essential to run the paranoia of communism in the 1950s. By instilling fear into the society, Senator McCarthy quickly expanded and stabilized this new phenomenon by falsely accusing and blacklisting individuals of being communists. Though McCarthy lacked evidence to prove his contention, he was still alleged by the public. That shows how rational consciousness subjected to panic and terror in the society.
A similar phenomenon ran through the town of Salem during the witch trials in the 1600s. It began by a group of girls that performed voodoo and danced around a fire one night. They were caught by a reverend who shamefully found his daughter in the group of girls. In just a short while, rumors spread through the town of witchcraft. This initiated the anxiety that would run the witch trials where one is “guilty until proven innocent”. The ring leader of the group of girls, Abigail, was a character similar to Senator McCarthy. She used manipulation and fear to her benefit by falsely accusing her enemies of witchcraft. This allowed Abigail to gain authority in Salem, just as McCarthy did in America.
F. Lalani
When McCarthy stated that he had a list of 200 to 500 people that were communists, he was just in a way scapegoating certain people who were working for the State Department. He didn't have any written or actual proof but it was just a hunch he had or not even one at all. He could have been saying that these people were communists to save himself from something. Like in the book the crucible when the girls are questioned about what they were doing in the forest and why they were doing it, instead of admitting what was going on they named names of other people to save themselves. Since all the girls teamed up together, the people who they accused did not know it was coming and had nothing to say in defence. Like the girls, McCarthy was using these helpless people as vitims and once there is something bad with a person's name, it will not go away and their reputation is tainted forever.
Sincelrely,
Joseph Hopmeyer
The term ‘McCarthyism’ has become defined as a method in which tactics of discrimination, force and pressure are used to unfairly accuse individuals based on their general political beliefs. McCarthyism, a period of intense anticommunism, named after the famous Senator Joseph R. McCarthy, was undoubtedly a symbol in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible written during the McCarthy era. He used the witch hunt trials of the 17th century as a metaphor for the communist allegations of the 1950’s.
The McCarthy quote was part of his public accusation where people were blamed, without any evidence, for suspected communist activity in the American government. Much like in The Crucible, alleged witches were persuaded to confess their crime of witchcraft and be sent to jail, or deny the accusation and be hung. The paranoia and hysteria of the citizens in Massachusetts throughout the witch hunt, was similar to those of the blamed Communist’s which had people falsely charged, making false claims and people turning against one another. With the growing fear of Communist accusations, the McCarthy trials, just like the Salem witch trials, had people lying and turning their backs on one another without the use of any support or evidence to justify themselves to the court.
When questioned, the inaccurate claims of witchcraft made by the girls in The Crucible were responded simply by the blaming and naming of someone else. This was just as the assumed Communists had done, which led to the increase in numbers on McCarthy’s list. It was just the belief of someone viewing another with the Devil that qualified them as a witch, just as someone who criticized the government would be named a Communist.
L. Wenger
The statement “guilty until proven innocent” is a common theme between The Crucible and the ideals set up by Senator Joseph McCarthy. During a very anticommunist era, Senator McCarthy went to desperate measures to banish these communist followers in the American political system. While his tactics were seen as controversial, he did not hesitate to point his finger and ruin the lives of many innocent people.
Due to the theocratic political system in the town of Salem, the people’s greatest fear was that of the devil. After getting caught dancing in the woods and “touching the devil”, a small group of girls went on a rage of accusations concerning town members practicing witchcraft. With no real evidence, a number of people are condemned to either hanging or life in jail under the allegation of witchcraft. With no way to defend themselves, they are either forced to admit theyre compliance with the devil or be hung. This is very much how Senator McCarthy dealt with the political leaders to whom he thought were communist.
Arthur Miller wrote the play right around the outrage of accusations by Senator McCarthy and while nowhere does it directly compare the play to these events; there are places where it suggests the relationship. Like McCarthy, these girls accuse the innocent, condemn the faultless and ruin many lives.
J. Paperman
McCarthy accuses people to be communist without any real proof portrays the same themes as the play written by Arthur Miller the Crucible. The novel was written during the same time McCarthy’s believes about anti-communism were being demonstrated. Arthur Miller could be using the Salem witch trials as a symbol to McCarthy’s believes because these events were occurring at the same period of time. These two events have the same theme and shows how easily humans can turn on each others backs to save them. Paranoia was an ongoing problem during the 50’s because of the spread of communism. In the novel the crucible people begin blaming others for no reason and this caused a huge problem in small town Salem. People lived in fear because of the fact that someone can shout out false accusations about them and can be easily turned into the truth. The towns fear was the devil and satanic believes the Americans biggest fear during the 1950’s was communism. Someone who went against the government during these times was called a communist. Someone who believed in the devil during the Salem witch trials was hung or was known as a witch.
A. Liberian
"An era of chemical McCarthyism is at hand, and "guilty until proven innocent" is the new slogan."
McCarthyism is unscrupulously accusing people of disloyalty (as by saying they were Communists). Chemical McCarthyism is like chemical warfare; it affects large amounts of people with disastrous consequences. The new slogan, "guilty until proven innocent” shows how the people where quite paranoid. They were afraid of a gas attack (chemical McCarthyism) and had to react accordingly, trust no one. Since nobody could trust each other, "guilty until proven innocent” became the norm. Until you had substantial evidence that you weren’t a communist, you were one.
This is like in The Crucible, where Abigale and the other ‘bewitched’ girls would claim that certain townsfolk were witches, and everyone would believe them. The accused couldn’t deny it, or they would be tortured until they confessed. There was no way for them to be proved innocent, because whenever they challenged Abigale she would fake being bewitched.
Many people where killed because of people paranoia’s of being attacked. People feared communists, so they believed McCarthy someone who opposed them. People feared witches, so they belived Abigale. A new trend?
A.Shaw
idt(underscore)madknifer(at)hotmail(dot)com
"Guilty until proven innocent" conflicts with todays way of dealing with crimes, where our slogan is "innocent until proven guilty". I guess back in the time of witchcraft and communism the slogan "guilty until proven innocent" worked because people didn't want to take any chances or risks, but in a way, was unjust because there was no real way to show innocence. In my opinion, it is immoral. One should have the rigth to prove himself without having the burdon of the people automaticaly thinking he is guilty. Add's on more stress at a time where one can't really afford it. I am glad McCarthyism has been abolished and we no longer go by this way of thinking. In my opinion, he was a stupid man and all he did was run his mouth. He never had any evidence to back-up what he was accusing. That is a sign of a poor leader!
A.Lallani
During McCarthy’s career as a senator he labeled many people as being communists with little or no proof supporting his accusations. In the book “The Crucible”, by Arthur Miller, McCarthy is portrayed as the young women who point fingers at everyone else claiming that they have been bewitched. By 1954 if McCarthy spoke badly of someone he could end their career, those accused by him were “guilty until proven innocent”.
McCarthy made such an impact on society in the 1950’s that the definition named after him is unscrupulously accusing people of disloyalty (google’s definition for McCarthyism). Abigail in the book “The Crucible” tends to do as McCarthy did in the senate, they both attempted to gain a higher social status by making false accusations on others and ultimately ruining their lives. Their outcomes, however, were different for Senator McCarthy everyone who he accused was cleared of being a communist and everyone who Abigail accused was hung or confessed the deeds which they did not commit. The end result was basically the same because Abigail and McCarthy were both exposed for frauds.
rsanft
i do agree with the quote "An era of chemical McCarthyism is at hand, and "guilty until proven innocent" is the new slogan.", many people are wrongfully accused and there is not enough protection set in place to protect the innocent. in The Crucible, anyone accused was found guilt without any solid proof, as long as someone fainted or yelled in the court room the accused was sentenced and imprisoned. there was no evidence needed. people of there town wanted someone to pay for crimes that no one had committed. such as the death of Mrs. Putman's 7 children. it is much the same during the McCarthy era. people were accused of being a communist because people wanted someone to be punished. the only reason McCarthy had so much popularity was that he was pointing a figure at a so called scape goat which happened to be other senators who were apposing him. in a modern period as today there should be protections put in place to prevent any other events which could wrongfully damage a persons reputation and/or life.
Daniel Schacter
ByDr. George Lundberg:
"An era of chemical McCarthyism is at hand, and "guilty until proven innocent" is the new slogan."
I do not believe that we are in an era of chemical McCarthyism. Times are very different now then they were during McCarthy’s time, and an even bigger difference then that of the Salem witch trials. The context has also changed substantially, George W. Bush is not blaming a single person, he has started to blame entire countries. He blamed Saddam Hussein and Iraq of housing weapons of mass destruction, he was able to bypass the United Nations before they were able to finish conducting their search, and he invaded Iraq without the United Nations consent. The United Nations have learned from their mistake, and will not let any other countries be invaded before they are proven to have weapons of mass destruction. The United Nations will be the commanding factor that will control the accusations of housing weapons, they will test all the accusations and prove if they are true or false, and learn from their mistakes in Iraq. They will become the difference between McCarthy’s time and ours. They will maintain control and will become the kill switch if matters become out of control. I think that our civilization will keep the matters in control, we always learn from our mistakes, and McCarthy’s actions were a big mistake.
J. Spagnoli
Foes DHS Mono... u know it!
I agree with the quote by Dr. George Lundberg, "An era of chemical McCarthyism is at hand, and "guilty until proven innocent" is the new slogan." The quote relates to The Crucible as many women and men are charged with witchcraft and are guilty without any real proof. They are to be hanged without any debate unless they admit to being with the devil in which case they are in a position to accuse others. Abigail is similar to Senator McCarthy as she wrongfully accuses people of witchcraft the way Senator accused people of communism. They were guilty from the moment they were accused. Senator McCarthy put fear into the community by accusing whoever he wanted of communism and they would be charged by the public. The phenomenon of being guilty until proven innocent was incredibly spread on these two occasions; Senator McCarthy in the 1950's and the Salem Witch Trial in the 1600's.
Daniel Stroll
McCarthyism is defined as “the practice of using unsubstantiated accusations or unfair methods of investigation to discredit people;” named after a politician named Senator Joe McCarthy. The reason for this was that McCarthy made a number of unprecedented accusations of governmental officials. He called them all communists, and caused much mayhem due to his false assumptions. While in the end they were all discredited of their accusations, it made us realize that anyone could accuse another person, and get away with it. As a result, the US eventually adopted the “innocent until proven guilty policy.” In The Crucible, we see many accusations made based on unsubstantial evidence. Unfortunately, those accused were hung, unless they confessed to speaking to the devil. As they were not given the chance of a fair trial, one that uses fair methods of investigation, they lost their lives. It is through people like Joe McCarthy and Abigail; we have realized that people will falsely accuse others.
i was just wondering if someone was going to do this
Senator McCarthy falsely accused hundreds of long-time, innocent, and respected members of the Secretary of State when he stated “I have here in my hand a list of two hundred and five (people) that were known to the Secretary of State as being members of the Communist Party and who nevertheless are still working and shaping the policy of the State Department”. He held no actual proof of his preachings; however, he used the effect of his ideas upon the other members of the government in an effort to strenthen the following for his conformist beliefs. Much like the town girls had done in Arthur Miller’s play, “The Crucible”. The girls made false accusations that dozens of their fellow townspeople were working for the devil so that they could have their way. Abigail accused Elisabeth Proctor of being bewitched, so that she would be able to once again become a lover of Mr. Proctor. Abigail had no proof to back her accusations, as Senator McCarthy did not, but nevertheless they were able to manipulate their surroundings as they pleased, with little to no information that would either falsify or prove their statements.
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