The Salem Witch Trials, McCarthyism, and The Crucible

1
The Salem Witch Trials, McCarthyism, andThe
Crucible

• Background and Modern Implications

2

• O Christian Martyr Who for Truth could die When
  all about thee Owned the hideous lie! The world,
  redeemed from superstition's sway, Is breathing
  freer for thy sake today.
• Words written by John Greenleaf Whittier and
  inscribed on a monument marking the grave of
  Rebecca Nurse, one of the condemned "witches" of
  Salem.

3
Synopsis of the Trials

• From June through September of 1692, nineteen men
  and women, all having been convicted of
  witchcraft, were carted to Gallows Hill, a barren
  slope near Salem Village, for hanging.
• Another man of over eighty years was pressed to
  death under heavy stones for refusing to submit
  to a trial on witchcraft charges.

4
Synopsis of the Trials

• Hundreds of others faced accusations of
  witchcraft. Dozens languished in jail for months
  without trials.  Then, almost as soon as it had
  begun, the hysteria that swept through Puritan
  Massachusetts ended.

5
Causes of the Witch Hysteria

• Governmental Instability
• The provincial government was in transition
  because of the removal of Sir Edmund Andros, (who
  was appointed by the king to rule over the
  newly-created Dominion of New England) due to
  discontent with his methods and beliefs.
• The government responded too slowly to prevent
  the executions of twenty due to this hysteria.

6
Causes of the Witch Hysteria

• This incident displayed the everyday tensions
  that existed in the colonies at the time and
  reflected a growing fear of ones neighbors as
  the trials built to a fever pitch

7
Causes of the Witch Hysteria

• Many other factors contributed to this hysteria
• Generational strife
• Tensions between agricultural Salem Village and
  commercial Salem Town
• Possibly an outbreak of food poisoning that may
  have caused hallucinations
• The Salem Witch trials were indicative of the
  times, which were marked by war, economic and
  political disruption, and erosion of the
  societys utopian vision

8
Arthur Miller and McCarthyism

• The play, The Crucible, is an allegory (in which
  a narrative reveals a second meaning beneath the
  surface) of the McCarthy era, in which similar
  witch hunts occurred, targeting citizens as
  communists rather than disciples of Satan.

9
McCarthyism

• Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy, in February
  1950, made the public charge that 205 Communists
  had infiltrated the State department.
• Upon subsequent testimony before the Senate
  Committee on Foreign Relations, McCarthy proved
  unable to produce the name of any "card-carrying"
  communists, but he gained increasing popular
  support for his campaign of accusations.

10
McCarthyism

• Although McCarthy was later denounced, he
  promoted unfounded accusations and suspicions of
  communism in many quarters, most prominently
  within the entertainment industry through the
  House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC).
• HUAC investigated communism within Hollywood,
  calling a number of playwrights, directors and
  actors known for left-wing views to testify.

11
McCarthyism

• Left Wing
• Left wing beliefs are usually progressive in
  nature. They look to the future, aim to support
  those who cannot support themselves, are idealist
  and believe in equality.
• People who are left wing believe in taxation to
  redistribute opportunity and wealth - things like
  a national health service, and job seekers
  allowance are fundamentally left wing ideas.
• They believe in equality over the freedom to fail.

12
McCarthyism

• Although some testified for the committee to
  avoid prison sentences, the Hollywood Ten, a
  group of entertainers, refused to testify and
  were convicted of contempt and sentenced to up to
  one year in prison.

13
Arthur Miller and McCarthyism

• Over three hundred other entertainers were placed
  on a blacklist for possible communist views and
  were thus forbidden to work for major Hollywood
  studios.
• Arthur Miller was one of these blacklisted.

14
Arthur Miller and McCarthyism

• The blacklist prevented these men from receiving
  screen credit during this time, until actor Kirk
  Douglas pushed for writer Dalton Trumbo to
  receive screen credit for his adaptation of
  Spartacus in 1960, thus finally breaking the
  blacklist.