The Controversy Of The Rosenberg Trial During The Mccarthy Era

McCarthyism is when someone, like a friend or neighbor, would make false accusations against another person about being communist. The accuser would sometimes have little to no evidence against the person being accused. In an article about McCarthyism

The McCarthy Era took place during the Red Scare centuries later, where Americans made false accusations against people, mostly government officials, in fear of the evils of Communism overtaking American society. There are several

Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, is an allegory for the McCarthy era in the 1950s. The McCarthy era is described as a period of fear about the potential rise of Communism, creating hysteria among the American society. Senator Joseph McCarthy holds the responsibility for stirring up the paranoia towards Communist activity in the United States, specifically making accusations for present communists within the United States government. The accused individuals were then followed up with unfair investigations that McCarthy directed. Within the investigations, people were to admit being a communist and be blacklisted, or not confess and be prosecuted.

Anastasia Willis Ms. Guerrero English 3 AP 3 September 2014 1692 Salem Witch Trials and 1950”s McCarthyism: Times Don’t Change When the “witch-hunts “began in 1692 the people of Salem went in a severe panic mode, people began to accuse others of witchcraft without evidence. Similarly, the 1950’s McCarthyism “ witch-hunts” had everyone looking over his or her shoulder in fear of being named a communist. In both 1692 and the 1950”s being claimed as witch or communist wasn’t something that would disappear in a few days. Arthur miller wrote “The Crucible” to reveal how the Salem witch trials of 1692, replicates the fear of uncertainty presented in the rise of McCarthyism in 1950’s.

The McCarthy Hearings were trials chaired by Senator Karl Mundt that investigated the accusations made by Senator Joseph McCarthy that communism has corrupted the Army. This accusation arose from the McCarthy Era during the Second Red Scare in which the spreading fear of espionage by Soviets was infiltrating and influencing American institutions. McCarthy then went on a witch hunt and accused anyone with the slightest doubt in loyalty a communist and demanded them to be tried and eradicated out of the country. During this time (1947-1956), the Cold War was heating up.

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg The Rosenberg trial that ended in double execution on the electric chair in 1953 is one of the most controversial trials of all time. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were husband and wife living in New York City working for the U.S. Signal Corporation. During this time they were both accused and later found guilty of illegally providing information about the U.S atomic bomb research to the Soviet Union. Ethel never had actual evidence gathered against her but only called in for questioning about her husband’s involvement.

Two years after the Soviet Union tested their atomic bomb, its government accused a couple who were supposedly giving information to the Soviet Union.   The couple, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, retrieved information on atomic bombs from Ethel Rosenberg's brother, David Greenglass. David Greenglass who worked on the development of the atomic bomb during World War II. When Julius and Ethel went on trial in 1951, a great number of Americans believed that America was filled with traitors and spies.

The United States discovered that the Japanese approached the Soviet Union to negotiate surrender but despite this, on August 6th, 1945, an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, killing 66,000 people instantly, and over 200,000 overall. On the 9th a second

Shortly after the bombing, the Soviets looked at us as enemies. According to several historians, the bombing was done to show intimidation to the Soviet Union. Joseph Stalin the leader at the time was outraged and stated in a speech, “Our cannons are ready for war even though they have had no break since the last war.” Stalin found this to be a personal offence of America flexing its Muscles. The bombing of Japan was the primary cause of the nuclear arms race and the cold war.

The Hunt Historic recurrence is the repetition of analogous events or circumstances in history. Many argue that historic recurrence is one of the most unacceptable and shameful concepts in our civilization because it is entirely preventable. We as a society are fully responsible and liable for it’s detrimental effects because we have the wherewithal to know better. In our very country, there are many accounts of history repeating itself. Two prominent and heavily associated models of such recurrence are the communist-hunt of the 1954 McCarthy hearings and the witch-hunt of the 1692 Salem Witch Trials.

As it were, there was not enough evidence to convict a killer, nor was there enough evidence to convict Lizzie Borden. She was declared not guilty (“Lizzie Borden on Trial”

Introduction To The Nuremberg Trials The Nuremberg Trials were a series of trials that took place in 1945 and 1946. They concluded judges from the Allied Powers, Great Britain, France, the Soviet Union, and the United States. The trials involved twenty-two major Nazi criminals. The trials continued in Germany and many other countries. The first session took place on October 18,1945 in Berlin, Germany and later got moved to Nuremberg.

History always has a mysterious method of repeating itself, and this concept is visible in the drama The Crucible and the McCarthy Trials of the 1950s. The Crucible, written in 1952 by famous playwright Arthur Miller, tells the story of an account of the infamous Salem Witch Trials in 1692, and how the spread of fear and endless scapegoats caused numerous civilians to be hanged. In correlation, the McCarthy Trials, whose purpose was to find communists, ended up incriminating innocent people, similar to the witch trials. In Arthur Miller’s allegorical play The Crucible and in the anti-communist McCarthy Trials, victims were accused and punished without proper evidence.

“Such a strong will to oppose the trials proved catastrophic for Proctor and in August of 1692, he paid the ultimate price. ”(Essay on John Proctor, Sr.) Others that spoke out on similar beliefs regarding the accuracy of the accusations could suffer a similar fate and Proctor’s execution served as an

This occurred throughout the time period of 1945 to 1947, of looking for protection between the nations and a doubt of one. This is refereed as the War. This involved Russia and the USA. This even started the development of the A-bomb that landed at the Semipalatinsk (the testing venue for the USSR nuclear weapons). On June 16, 1945, the first atomic bomb came to amusement in the USA.