Maria Zulfiqar Mrs.

Kumpf Social Studies 7th Grade March 25, 2013 McCarthyism and the Red Scare McCarthyism is a term that is used to describe the accusation of the innocent who were believed to be communist. This word is attributed to Senator Joseph McCarthy, who encouraged the trials of those who were supposedly communist. McCarthyism evoked an irrational fear of spreading communism, which later became known as the Red Scare. In our class, we did a skit, in which suspected rival school supporters were put on trial, that symbolized McCarthyism. The skit was very similar to actual trials, because in our trial, those accused were brought in front of a jury that revealed their true colors. In real life, those suspected of beingcommunist were brought in front of a jury. The jury then gave lists of communist activities that the accused was involved in. This is exactly what we did, but we used rival schools as an example. There were also reporters who were recording the historic trial. I dont think that anyone was being just in the trials, even in our skit. There were many false accusations made in both cases, and sometimes the claims were very irrelevant to the topic at hand. In our skit, someone was accused of betraying their school just because they lived in the same neighborhood as a rival school member. Many people couldnt control the reasons that they were brought to court for, such as where they live, or who they are related to. Something unusual

was that everyone was over-reacting to vague, insignificant claims, and how harsh the punishments for betrayal were. In our skit, I was a part of the jury, and I was accusing people for betraying our school. I dont feel like what I was doing was right, because I had no idea why the accused were put on trial. The evidence I had seemed very weak to me, and I felt uncomfortable because I was accusing those that I personally thought were innocent. I know that if I was accused, I would ask myself what I had done wrong, and I would blame myself for being put on trial. I also know that if I was watching the trial, I would be confused about who was actually a credible source, and who was making things up. I think that we did our skit so we could understand how it felt to be living in those times. I have seen that this skit helped me a better understanding of what McCarthyism was, and also why people were accused. I think that the main purpose of this skit was to gain a better understanding of McCarthyism and its victims. I am pleased to say that this skit fulfilled its mission to help me gain an understanding of what happened.