Parallels+to+the+Salem+Witch+Trials-+p7

__**Parallels to the Salem Witch Trials**__
Sophia

In the early 1950's Joseph McCarthy, the senator of Wisconsin at the time, started accusing people in the US government of being communist spies. Many people lost their jobs, had their careers ruined, or were even imprisoned. All these punishments happened with hardly any real evidence, just suspicions that were greatly exaggerated. About three hundred years earlier, a similar series of events happened in Salem, MA (about 25 miles north of Boston). Hundreds were accused of witchcraft without any solid evidence. The similarities between these two events is quite interesting.

The beginnings of the hunt for Communists started on Feb. 9, 1950. McCarthy was in Wheeling, WV giving a speech for about three hundred people. He said:

"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 in the State Department"

At the time, he didn't think it would be that big of a deal. This, however, created a lot of interest and suspicions of the topic which led to more severe consequences later. On February 20, 1950, he had to give a speech for the Senate where he showed a revised list of 81 people to all the members of the Senate. A couple weeks later, the Senate formed the Tydings Committee, a committee consisting of five people in charge of determining weather there really had been people in the US government that were Communist spies. The Tydings Committee failed to prove the accusations false and McCarthy continued his claims. The era of McCarthyism lasted over five years. At the end, there were thousands of people who had their lives ruined.



In early 1692, Betty Parris and Abigail Williams from Salem, MA started having fits of hysteria. No one really knows what caused this, but one of the most common suspicions is that they were just faking it to get attention. The minister, Betty Parris' father, had the local doctor come in to see if he could diagnose the children. He couldn't figure out exactly what was causing them to act so strangely and ended up saying that they were being tortured by witches. Pretty soon a couple more girls, mostly Betty and Abigail's friends, started having fits too. The adults in the town began pressuring the children to name their tormentors. The girls named three people that were tried at the Court of Oyer and Terminer. There was no solid evidence that they weren't witches, but there definitely was none that proved they were. Eventually, they were said to be guilty and were hanged. That was just the beginning. By early 1963, about 150 people were accused, 19 people and two dogs were hanged, one was pressed to death, and 5 people died in prison.

__**Parallels**__


 * They both started out not being intentionally destructive. McCarthy was just giving a speech that he didn't think would be very important and the girls were just bored and looking for attention.
 * They both had organizations to find the validity of the accusations. The Tydings Committee for McCarthy and the Court of Oyer and Terminer for Salem.
 * The accusations were said to be true even though there wasn't any hard evidence.
 * The times were filled with anxiety and suspicion. You never knew if you may be the next one accused or what your fate would be if you were. Your neighbor who you'd always gotten along with could suddenly turn on you to save themselves. Everyone was nervous about what could happen to them.

These were two very disastrous events. The similarities between the two is very remarkable. This shows that American citizens hadn't really learned from the Salem Witch Trials. If people today are educated about what happened in the past, its possible if not very likely that a similar event will happen in the future. This is important for us to know about because this way we can learn from our mistakes.

__**Books**__ Zeinert, Karen. __McCarthy and the Fear of Communism in American History__ Springfield, NJ: Enslow Publishers, Inc. 1998

__**Websites**__ Hashimoto, John, ed. "Joseph Raymond McCarthy." __CNN__. 1999. 6 Feb. 2007 <[|http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/kbank/profiles/mccarthy/>.]

Lowman, Ashley E., comp. "Salem Witch Trials." __Religious Movements__. 2 Mar. 2001. University of Virginia. 5 Feb. 2007 <[|http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/nrms/salem.html>.]

"McCarthyism." __Wikipedia__. 8 Feb. 2007. 10 Feb. 2007 <[|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Red_Scare#Origins_of_McCarthyism>.]

"The Tragedy Ends." __Salem Witch Trials of 1692__. 2005. 9 Feb. 2007 <[|http://www.witchway.net/times/ends.html>.]