Secret Communists In America And The Devil example essay topic

By Josh Caron When most people think about the Red Scare they are thinking about a time in America during the 1940's and 1950's. The Red Scare was a hunt for communists in American government and culture. During World War II we were allies with the Russians to destroy Hitler. We both wanted to defeat Germany, but had little trust in each other. At the end of the war, Americans went home from Europe. The Russians stayed and took over many countries.

They took away the rights of the people, they took away their governments and put people in power who would do whatever the Russians told them to do. People had no freedom of religion, (this is why the American Congress passed a law to add the words "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance) no freedom of the press, no freedom of speech, and no way to change their government. The same things happened when the Communists took over China. The Communists were very clear about their intentions to take over the whole world. When Americans found out that the Communists had stolen the plans for making an atomic bomb they were very frightened. The government passed the Smith Act, which made it a crime to teach or advocate for the overthrow of the government by violent means.

In 1948 a former communist named Elizabeth Bentley gave the government the names of many government employees she said were Soviet agents. This really frightened Americans. They wanted something done to get rid of the secret Communists. Back in 1692 in the village of Salem a similar kind of thing had happened. The children were becoming sick and they had no way to explain what was happening to them.

They had no medicine or science so they relied on what they knew, that God was good and the Devil was bad. If bad things were happening it must be the work of the Devil using people in their town to do his work. People who did the Devil's work were known as witches. The people decided they must find and destroy these people. This is where the expression "witch hunt" comes from. Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible during the Communist witch-hunts of the 1950's.

In his play Tituba is suspected of being in contact with the forest spirits or the Devil. Miller used Tituba to represent the secret Communists in America and the Devil to represent the Russian and Chinese Communist Parties. In Salem being accused of being with the Devil was about the worst thing that could happen to you. In 1950's America being accused of being a Communist was worse than being accused of murder or rape. In both places accused people were considered to be guilty.

In both places people were accused based on rumors, lies, and very few facts. In Salem Deputy Governor Danforth prosecuted the accused people. In America it was Joe McCarthy. During the Salem witch trials nobody wanted to be associated with anyone accused of witchcraft. Some people lied or exaggerated things they saw their neighbors doing. During the 1950's hearings people were called to testify about their friends and coworkers about whether the people McCarthy was investigating were members of the Communist Party.

He focused on two groups of people, Hollywood actors and writers, and people who worked for the State Department. He went after the Hollywood people because entertainment has a big impact on how people think. He thought of them as witches doing the work of the Devil (Communist leaders). He also went after people he though might be Communist spies because he thought they were giving secrets to the Russians. McCarthy was trying to force people to admit that they were Communists just like Danforth was trying to make people admit they were witches. People who refused to cooperate with McCarthy were blacklisted and unable to get acting jobs or get their books published.

Many of them left the country to avoid going to prison. Some people had other people publish their work under a different name. Many of these people were friends of Arthur Miller. In the 1990's Timothy McVeigh blew up a federal building in Oklahoma City. Because some Muslims had tried to blow up the World Trade Towers by putting a truck bomb in the basement people automatically thought that Muslims or Arabs were behind this bombing. Many Arab men in the area were taken in for questioning just because of their looks.

Some people called this a witch-hunt. Today's society changed forever on September 11, 2001. Our country was infiltrated by terrorists who hijacked planes and killed thousands of innocent people. Since 9/11 thousands of American Muslims have been arrested and held for days or months based on suspicions, not facts. The government passed the Homeland Security Act to make it easier for them to investigate people.

American Muslims have been victims of hate crimes, harassment, and discrimination, they are suspected based on guilt by association. This is like the witch hunts of the 1600's and the 1950's. All of these witch-hunts have one thing in common, they are based on fear and prejudice.