Red Scare vs. Salem Witch Trials
Annie Perkins
Salem Witch Trials
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salem_witch_trials
Red Scare Propaganda
http://www.atomicplatters.com/platters.php?id=C0_7_1
Salem Witch Trials
http://www.sonofthesouth.net/revolutionary-war/colonies/salem-witch-trials.htm
In Common:
The Red Scare and the Salem Witch Trials were very similar in the ways of:
- Mass hysteria- everyone was freaking out about who was a witch and who was a communist. It swept the whole nation during the Red Scare and left everyone suspicious.
- Substance of the claims made- almost every arrest or persecution during the Salem Witch Trials and The Red Scare was based solely on testimony. There was a huge lack of hard evidence.
- Consequences- so many lives were lost by false claims during the Salem Witch Trial and The Red Scare ruined just as many in job losses.
In Contrast:
- Obviously, there were no real witches in Salem, but during the time of McCarthyism, there were communists in the United States.
- The people accused during The Red Scare were usually given trial or sent to jail. The people during the Witch Trials were usually hung after a short and biased trial.
- Salem Witch Trials were in the 1600's and The Red Scare occurred in the 1950's.