Salem Witch trials vs

McCarthyism
By Alex Holguin, Omar Canela
 McCarthyism
● A period in American History when Joseph McCarthy (Wisconsin) was
appointed to the senate.
● Joseph McCarthy accused many people with fear that there was communists
living among them.
● McCarthy claimed that there were 205 communists which had infiltrated the
government.
● Even though none of the cases were successful, he was able to get people
out of their jobs.
Owen Lattimore

● One of the men that McCarthy questioned was Owen Lattimore.

● Owen Lattimore was a professor and on April 8 1950, Senator Joseph
McCarthy calls out Owen by attacking his liberal views and his acquaintance
with Chiang Kai-Shek.
● Throughout the speech, Joseph constantly attacks Owen’s character.
● Attacking his character rather than using evidence he didn’t really have to
start with was Guilt of Association.
● The result of this questioning was a tarnished career for Owen Lattimore and
it eventually lead to him leaving the United States.
Val Lorwin

● Val Lorwin was another victim under Joseph McCarthy

● Val Lorwin was a labor economist when the accusation occurred.
● Val was accused after his friend Harold Metz had accused him of inviting him
to a communist party.
● Metz was mistaken however because it was a Socialist Party instead of a
Communist Party.
● Metz mistake was costly because it tarnished Lowin’s reputation.
Parallels
● Throughout both events, when we look at both time periods and there are
similarities between the trials.
● A similarity in two of the case trials were that the person getting accused was
being targeted for their character rather than their actual crime.
● This type of accusing was similar in which there was very little evidence to
accuse the victim and they would be subject to suspect their character rather
than the crime they supposedly committed.