McCarthyism, the Red Scare, Arthur Miller, and the Salem

Witch Trial

?

Communism– the idea that everyone in a given society receives equal shares of the benefits derived from labor

Principles—•Redistribution of wealth•Central banking•Government owned product—education, labor, agriculture, etc•No personal property

Goal of Global Communism—•Soviet Union led the Communist charge following Europe’s devastation from WWII•Joseph Stalin responsible for building Soviet industry and pushing Communist agenda•Threat to the U.S. came in form of industrialization

Joseph Stalin and Kliment Voroshilov depicted saluting a military parade in Red Square above the message "Long Live the Worker-Peasant Red Army— a Dependable Sentinel of the Soviet Borders!"

· A dramatic fear of communism and communist spies spread across the nation.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWeZ5SKXvj8

Hunting Communists at Home

· In 1949, the U.S. learned that the Soviet Union also possessed atomic weapons.

Video: Atomic tests

(4:35)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ON9SEAqL08&feature=related

“Lift Together”

Critical Events

• March 1949: Leaders of the Communist Party of the United States convicted of conspiring to violently overthrow the U.S. government

• Aug. 29, 1949: Soviet Union exploded an atomic bomb

• Oct. 20, 1949: Communists, led by Mao Zedong, had gained control of China

• Feb. 12, 1950: McCarthy’s list

Joseph McCarthy (junior Senator

from Wisconsin)

• Trying to make a name for himself

• List of 205 names of supposed active communists holding jobs in the State Department.

• Politicians of all parties attack McCarthy's claims.

• “Witch hunt"

The McCarthy Hearings with the Senate Committee on Government Operations

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAur_I077NA

HOLLYWOODAfter attacking members of the government, McCarthy

turned to Hollywood.

• Entertainment industry blacklist: List of members of the entertainment industry who had suspected or real ties to Communism. Refused employment based on their political ties.

• Fifth Amendment Communists: Suspects often claimed the Fifth Amendment, which protects against self-incrimination. Bosses considered that as good as a guilty plea.

*HOLLYWOOD TEN VIDEO

The Arthur Miller Connection

• Director of Death of a Salesman Elia Kazan is on the list

• Writes the play The Crucible as a metaphor for McCarthy's communist "witch hunt“

• Questioned and found guilty of having Communist beliefs. Conviction was overturned in 1957.

The End of McCarthy - TV

• Edward R. Murrow, host of "See It Now“, constantly spoke about McCarthy. Subject of film Good Night and Good Luck (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5N3WJXK2PAM&feature=related)

• McCarthy had been viciously interrogating suspects in public and private hearings for some time, but the American people witnessed his brutal methods firsthand when the Army-McCarthy hearings were broadcast on live TV in 1954.

• The public quickly shifted its opinion of the man

Salem, MA -1692

• Betty Parris, Abigail Williams began to have fits described as "beyond the power of Epileptic Fits or natural disease to effect" by John Hale, minister in nearby Beverly.

• The girls screamed, threw things about the room, uttered strange sounds, crawled under furniture, and contorted themselves into peculiar positions. The girls complained of being pinched and pricked with pins. Ann Putnam and Elizabeth Hubbard

• Accused Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne, Tituba. Then Martha Corey, Dorothy Good, Rebecca Nurse.