Similarities Between The Salem Witch Trials And The Mccarthy Trials

The Salem Witch Trials was one of America’s greatest tragedies, and the McCarthy Trials can be considered a repetition of this historical event. The Salem Witch Trials and the McCarthy Trials share similar characteristics, which is exemplified through fear of speaking out, the types of people who were accused, and the mass hysteria that spurred both movements on.
The first connection between these two events is probably the most obvious, that being a common fear of speaking out against the movement. Often times, people who were too critical of the events taking place ended up being the next ones accused. This is exemplified during a conversation between Reverend Hale and John Proctor, where Reverend Hale is questioning John Proctor about his
During both events, outsiders were the most likely to be accused first. John Goldsmith, curator of the Cromwell Museum stated it best, saying, “People who were different in any way, through age, or physical disability, or mental disability, were picked out by those who wanted to believe there was some specific reason why things had gone wrong” (Kiger, NationalGeographic.com). This explains the accusation of one of the first people accused in the Salem Witch Trials, Tituba, a slave of Reverend Parris from Barbados. She was one of the only African American people in the community, and she was a member of the lowest class during that time period. The first person actually hanged for witchcraft was Bridget Bishop. Bishop was known around town for her “...dubious moral character, frequented taverns, dressed flamboyantly (by Puritan standards), and was married three times” (First Salem Witch Hanging, History.com). Bishop did not live to Puritan standards, and this ultimately lead to her death. In the McCarthy Trials, the outsiders were also the most likely to be accused, in this case the outsiders being liberals. Arthur Miller described this when talking about his motivation to write the Crucible, saying, "...the paralysis that had set in among many liberals who, despite their discomfort with the inquisitors' violations of civil rights, were fearful, and with good reason, of being identified as covert Communists if they should protest too strongly" (Miller, plosin.com). This statement shows that liberals already had the deck stacked against them, regardless of what they said or did. Joseph McCarthy was a Republican, and during the anxious times of the Cold War, accusing your rivals of being Communists would have made sense. Both events persecuted outsiders in the community, as they were the easiest to pick