McCarthy
Throughout the early 1950's, the nation was deeply engrossed in fears of a Communist takeover. At a time when America's fears were at their very height, Joseph McCarthy, a Republican Senator from Wisconsin pushed America's fears to an extreme. As a ploy to get himself re-elected, and to make America hate Communism as much as he did, the Senator devised a devious scheme. McCarthy, while giving a speech, held up a piece of paper and exclaimed, "I have here a list of 57 known Communists who are currently employed by the U.S. State Department" (Fried, 89). A few days later, McCarthy raised the number of people on the list from 57 to 205. The reaction to McCarthy's announcement was absolute panic. Until that time, the nation had a sense of security. Now all peace of mind was lost, and America wanted these people that were on McCarthy's so called "Blacklist" (Fried, 65). So began a long-term search by Congress to seek these individuals. One group that was extensively looked at was Hollywood. By Joseph McCarthy abusing his powers, he not only destroyed many people's lives, but he also wronged the American public. To begin with, the type of person that Joe McCarthy was must be considered. McCarthy was a hard-line Republican who played a
Finally, the way the trials were conducted has to be looked into. When all these prestigious actors and actresses were brought before Congress, they did not receive a fair trial. Some individuals were brought before Congress with absolutely no evidence against them. Congress overstepped its boundaries by placing people they knew had nothing to do with Communism on the stand. All that Congress wanted to do was look busy. So when they had no leads on anyone, they made them up. When a witness did not exist, one mysteriously appeared. They called some people simply to get them to mention other people. What was actually going on was a giant loop. Nothing was getting done. All they were really doing was randomly picking people whose lives would be ruined. Most members of Congress knew it was a witch-hunt. That was when Arthur Miller came into the picture. Miller himself knew a lot of the people involved in the trials. He was once married to Marilyn Monroe, and he also directed a few notable films. Miller found a high level way of criticizing Congress. The Crucible was Miller's depiction of what was going on in America at the time. Miller wrote a play in which the Salem witch trials of the 1600's were brought to light. He directly compared the witch-hunts of the past, to the congressional proceedings of the present. It was a brilliant idea, until Congress called him in for questioning. During the trial, Miller made every attempt to criticize Congress and their handling of the proceedings. He was eventually jailed. Once again this is another example of how Joe McCarthy ruined the life of another innocent person. McCarthy had the entire nation in an uproar and all he had to say about it was "Vote McCarthy" (Fried, 104). Next, the people whose lives McCarthy destroyed must be looked at. In the imm
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Approximate Word count = 1216
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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