The Crucible is a fictionalized account of the Salem Witch trials of 1692, in which 19 innocent men and women were killed by hanging and hundreds convicted before the panic subsided. Yet while The Crucible depicts one witch-hunt, it was written during another. In the 1950s, during the first years of the Cold War, a Senator named Joseph McCarthy rose to power by whipping the nation into a terror of Communists. McCarthy led the House Committee on Un-American Activities, which sought to find Communists in America. Those named as Communists were placed on "Blacklists" that prevented them from getting work. Eventually the fervor died down and McCarthy was censured, but not before the lives of hundreds of people, particularly those in entertainment industries, were destroyed.
"Historical Context of The Crucible", (LitCharts, 2023) https://www.litcharts.com/lit/the-crucible
A religious reform movement in the late 16th and 17th centuries that sought to “purify” the Church of England of remnants of the Roman Catholic “popery” that the Puritans claimed had been retained after the religious settlement reached early in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Puritans became noted in the 17th century for a spirit of moral and religious earnestness that informed their whole way of life, and they sought through church reform to make their lifestyle the pattern for the whole nation. Their efforts to transform the nation contributed both to civil war in England and to the founding of colonies in America as working models of the Puritan way of life.
Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia (2023, January 6). Puritanism. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Puritanism
"Landing of the Pilgrims", also known as "The Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers in America, A. D. 1620", (1848 CE) is a painting by Charles Lucy (1814–1873 CE). White House copy of the painting. (From The White House Historical Association)
Association, T. W. H. H. (2020, November 18). Landing of the Pilgrims by Charles Lucy. World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://www.worldhistory.org/image/13125/landing-of-the-pilgrims-by-charles-lucy/
Read more about the Puritans, their origins, their culture and beliefs here.
"Trial of George Jacobs, August 5, 1692" by Thomkins H. Matteson (1813–1884 CE). Painted 1855 CE. Collection of the Peabody Essex Museum in Massachusetts, USA.
Matteson, T. H. (2021, April 02). Witch Trial of George Jacobs. World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://www.worldhistory.org/image/13773/witch-trial-of-george-jacobs/
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Experts, historians, authors, and behavorial psychologists offer an in-depth examination of the facts and the mysteries surrounding the court room trials of suspected witches in Salem Village, Massachusetts in 1692.
"McCarthyism was a term coined to describe activities associated with Republican senator Joseph R. McCarthy of Wisconsin. He served in the Senate from 1947 to 1957.
Reference: (Pufong, 2023)
Video Reference: McCarthyism (2006)
When Senator Joseph McCarthy begins his foolhardy campaign to root out Communists in America, CBS News impresario Edward R. Murrow (David Strathairn) dedicates himself to exposing the atrocities being committed by McCarthy's Senate "investigation." Murrow is supported by a news team that includes long-time friend and producer Fred Friendly (George Clooney). The CBS team does its best to point out the senator's lies and excesses, despite pressure from CBS' corporate sponsors to desist.
Ref. Wikipedia
Click Here to Watch the Movie Good Night and Good Luck for free with TV4Edcuation
Miller Recounts McCarthy Era, Origins of "The Crucible" (Meyers, 1999) - Article located in the The Harvard Crimson
In Retrospect: "Good Night, and Good Luck" is a Timely Call for Political Accountability (Clooney & Cho, 2020) - Article located in the Harvard Crimson.
Using the Past to Intervene in the Present: Spectacular Framing in Arthur Miller's The Crucible (Aziz, 2016) - Article available to download via State Library of Queensland. You will need to become a member with the State Library of Queensland in order to access this article.
Joseph McCarthy and the force of political falsehoods (Menand, 2020) - McCarthy never sent a single “subversive” to jail, but, decades later, the spirit of his conspiracy-mongering endures.
McCarthyism and the Red Scare (UVA Miller Center, 2023) - Online exhibit via the Miller Center at the University of Virginia full of primary sources, multimedia, and background information on McCarthyism and the Red Scare.
McCarthyism and the Second Red Scare (Storrs, 2015) - The second Red Scare refers to the fear of communism that permeated American politics, culture, and society from the late 1940s through the 1950s, during the opening phases of the Cold War with the Soviet Union.
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