During the 1940’s through the 1950’s America was overwhelmed with concerns about the threat of communism growing in Easter Europe and China (Goss 20). The anti-Communist McCarthy hearings of the 1950’s and the witchcraft trails of 1692 both were known for accusing and imprisoning people with little proof. This is shown in Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible. He was able to capture the panic and simple madness of many Americans in a symbolic way. McCarthyism is very similar in the way that Joe McCarthy accused Americans of being communist and in The Crucible the people were being accused of being witches. Joe McCarthy, born on a farm to Irish-American Roman Catholic parents, was a relatively unknown U.S. senator from Wisconsin. He was the youngest member of the new senate and his voting record was conservative, even though he didn’t follow the Republican Party line (Appleton Public Library, pars 2). He later became a chairman of the committee on government operations. With that he became the leading spokesman of the post war anti-Communist Crusade in 1950 to 1954 (Klingaman 253). McCarthyism was a search, or “witch hunt”, led by Senator Joe McCarthy, for Communists in the 1950’s United States Government. McCarthy continued to make accusations of communist infiltration of the U.S. government, though he had failed to provide evidence. On December 2, 1954 the full senate, by vote of 67-22 passed a resolution, condemning McCarthy for abusing his power as senator. He remained as senate, though he had little power and was ignored by the congress, the white house, and the media (Appleton Public Library, pars 2). His charges received extensive media attention and his enemies started a campaign against him, not only making McCarthy the most famous political figure in the nation but also the most criticized. McCarthyism had Bourbia 2 than became known as the practice of