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In a time where the country was plagued by the fear of communism radical accusations were made against people with the smallest ties to communism. Senator Joseph McCarthy led the ring of those who accused others of being communists using the fear of the general population to his advantage. During this time however, CBS journalist Edward R. Murrow dared to stand up to Joseph McCarthy using his position on the CBS station to his advantage in order to expose the tactics of the junior senator from Wisconsin.
Early in the movie Murrow moves to expose the tactics of McCarthy very indirectly through the story of relieved former air force officer Milo Salunovich whose father was accused of being a communist for reading a Serbian newspaper. Although this story did not relate directly to Joseph McCarthy it did relate to his tactics. Salunovich was relieved without a trial and without any evidence presented against him as being a security hazard.
When McCarthy received false information that Murrow had once had ties to the communist party Murrow moves to stage a controversial show that directly attacks the tactics that McCarthy is using on the senate examination commission before McCarthy has the chance to attack him with the false information. By appealing to the reasoning of his viewers he is able to convince them in this attack against McCarthy that the accusations an manipulations of the senator have begun to go to far.
During his attack on senator McCarthy, thought, Murrow takes a very subjective stance, however his actions against McCarthy were warranted. Although he agrees that communism is bad like most other Americans he feels that the accusations of Joseph McCarthy go to far because anyone who moves against the senator is subject to being accused as a communist even if there is no evidence against said person. In a time where no one dared to stand up to the senator for fear of being called a communist, Edward Murrow felt it was his job and his necessity as a journalist to expose to the people what senator McCarthy was actually doing, despite the protests and pleas not to by his colleagues and friends.
In his story against McCarthy, Murrow warrants his behavior firstly by taking full advantage of the first amendment giving him every right to expose McCarthy, and secondly by establishing his ethos by conceding on several points about the necessity to eradicate communisism, such as that of the need committees in order to detect plots against the country’s government and also to get rid of “true” communists . He also warrants that he does not expect to be correct on every matter of his story and invites the senator to appear on his show to correct any flaw or shortcoming he may have made. He further justifies his actions by having a firm and adamant belief in them and by running more stories of accused communists such as that of Amy Lee Moss. Throughout the movie McCarthy refuses to back down in his claims against the senator despite a growing controversy which arises when the senator attempts to slander Murrow as a communist but fails because of false information.
In the end Murrow’s persistence pays off as McCarthy is put under examination by the commission and many others tried without evidence like Milo Salunovich and Amy Lee Moass were restored their good names.
BM

The Crucible and McCarthyism

In Arthur Miller’s novel The Crucible tensions builds as the very religious and superstitious townsmen and leaders of Salem, begin to suspect the use of witchcraft is present in their humble village. Thus as the tensions grow between the villagers and more questions of strange behaviors surface, persecutions of alleged witches in the village began to develop leading to the loss of the lives of many innocent people. In the 1950s Senator Joseph McCarthy began to renew these persecutions, but not to find and destroy witches, but rather to eradicate communists in America, many innocent people may not have lost their lives, but suffered much time in prison unjustly due to the false radical accusations of senator McCarthy.
In the small village of Salem in 1692 the inhabitants lived holy, strict and seclusive lives. When things begin to differ to from the ordinary with the affair of John Proctor and Abigail Williams, the town girls dancing in the forest to cast a spell on Elizabeth Proctor, and the sickness of Betty Parris and Ruth Putman after the dancing, a fear of witchcraft began to develop in the town provoked and furthered by prestigious townsmen like Thomas Putman. Ironically though, it was the girls who were dancing who later claimed to see the light of God later and began the persecutions of innocent others like John and Elizabeth Proctor who fell victim to the paranoia present in the town of Salem, John because of his dislike for the church and Parris, and Elizabeth because Abigail wanted her gone so she could marry John Proctor. In the 1950s a fear of communism in America existed just as there had been a fear of witchcraft in Salem. The constant threat of Russian spies and Nuclear war left people living in fear day to day as the people of Salem had done. While none of these events were strange or out of the norm for society at the time, unlike the events that led to the Salem persecutions, American propaganda against communism, fear of a counterattack after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the presence of Russian spies in America, and the space race, led important figures like Herbert J. Hoover and Senator Joseph McCarthy to persecute others who were thought to be communists merely by assumptions. Important figures like scientist J.R. Oppenheimer and movie director Herbert Biberman fell victim to this propaganda with their refusal to cooperate with the court the same as John Proctor. Oppenheimer also had many who wanted him out of their way like Abigail wanted Elizabeth, however both had some tie to communist party of America at one time while neither of the proctors ever had any tie to witchcraft.
As a result of the persecutions in Salem, John Proctor loses his life after refusing to publicly display his confession of witchcraft, while Elizabeth spends much time in jail with the others that are accuses until Reverend Hale persuades her to have John confess and she is released herself. Oppenheimer and Biberman also spent some time in jail for refusing to release the name of other communists, or to admit that they themselves were communist spies, but neither of them ever suffered death. The accusers; Abby Williams, Mary Warren, and the others, were never exposed as frauds, and persecutions continued after the death of John Proctor in other places, but before he died John Proctor was able to expose Abby to the court for the whore that she was, leading Abby and the girls to be driven to exile from Salem. The accusations of senator Joseph McCarthy and Herbert J. Hoover were eventually exposed to be false, and persecution of communism came to a more abrupt end than that of witchcraft which persisted for many decades. Accusations of communists were proven to be heinous after McCarthy accused many state and army officials of being communists when evidence had been proven that they were not. As in Salem though McCarty suffered exile from the political world once he was exposed as a fraud as Abigail and the girls were exiled from Salem. Society in Salem itself had also suffered several consequences because of the persecutions. Cows wandered the streets and land was left unclaimed because nearly everyone was in jail and many innocent people had lost their lives because of the ignorance of Danforth and Hathorne had caused the sufferings of many individuals and families in the courts. In society in the 1950s no major disruption to order had occurred, and no one may have lost there lives, but thee ignorance of the accusers led to the unnecessary suffering of many families and individuals as had occurred in Salem in the courts when Danforth and Hathorne refused to listen to certain evidence and testimonies.
Of course many things could have done to prevent the persecutions in Salem and in the 1950s. If Deputy governor Danforth and Judge Hathorne had been more prudent in their judgement of the evidence presented to them in the courts, particularly by Francis Nurse and Giles Corey less people would have been tried guilty of witchcraft. Likewise if Joe McCarthy would have provided evidence for his accusations rather than just accusing members of the communist party less people would have suffered unjustly. Also, if the people who supported McCarthyism; particularly republicans, Catholics, blue collar workers, and protestants, would have been more willing to check the legitimacy of McCarthy’s accusations less people would have been accused. The same in Salem. If the high court, Parris, Hale, and the other townspeople would have been willing to check the legitimacy of the accusations provided by the girls by actual rather than supernatural methods, less or no people would have lost their lives.
If I were in the position of the accusers I think I could have handled the cases of the accused in a more prudent manner, in the place of the accused in a more calm and settled manner. However in both Salem in 1692 and America in the 1950s, times were very rough and conditions were not the same as they are in the present. Given these conditions it is possible that I would have handled the situations any different than the accused or the accusers, however despite all that, it would be against my honor to reveal the names of others as many facing persecution had done, it is not right for one to put a fellow colleague in danger. And unfortunately during the persecutions of Salem and America in the 1950s both accusers and many accused were forced to do just that.