Comparison/Contrast: McCarthyism v. Salem Witch Trials

McCarthyism

• Hunt for communists
• Created accusations to gain status
• Accused Democratic party and US army
• Joseph McCarthy as "leader", Republican party as followers
• Fear of communism kept it alive
• Throughout America in 1950s
• Caused by communism gains by Soviets, the Korean war, and Truman being "soft on communism" 
• Communists were "taking over the government"
• Now defined today as "the unfair tactic of accusing people of disloyalty without providing evidence" (Danzer 620) 

Salem Witch Trials

• Hunt for witches/witchcraft
• Accusations created for revenge
• Accused women
• Abigail as "leader" with her friends as followers
• Fear that the devil would take over kept it alive
• In Salem, Massachusetts in 1692
• Caused by the idea that witches existed
• Witches were thought to be "taking over the town and destroying souls"

Both

• Search for "odd man out"
• Innocent were accused
• Names were made up with no proof
• "Ringleader", with followers
• Personal gain by the leader
• Both events occurred in the United States
• Pleads were made guilty
• Group of people that speak out against it