During the Cold War, members of the United States government, military, and even citizens were accused by Senator Joseph McCarthy of being Communist and Soviet spies and sympathizers. These trials continued throughout the 1950s until Senator McCarthy was criticized by Congress. Similarly, during the seventeenth century, many residents of Salem, Massachusetts were accused of witchcraft, with a total of nineteen hangings during what were called the Salem Witch Trials. These trials were conducted similarly to Senator McCarthy's hearings, and many of these allegations went unchallenged because the circumstances at the time made these claims possible. Arthur Miller's The Crucible sheds new light on the mysterious Salem witch trials and why so many members of the small community were hanged. Although some Salemites believed that the Devil had come to Salem, Miller's The Crucible depicts the witch trials as motivated by self-interests of greed, jealousy, and pride. To cover their personal needs, some Salem men, such as Mr. Putnam and Dr. Walcott, accuse men and women of witchcraft in an attempt to purchase their land or receive compensation once the owner of the land is convicted. Mr. Putnam, a key example of greed in Salem, first demonstrates his when Proctor says he needs to leave Parris' house to move wood in the first act. When Proctor tells Putnam that Proctor is hauling wood from the forest along the riverbank, Putnam responds, “Why, we will surely go mad this year. What anarchy is this? That trait is within my limits, it is within my limits, Mr. Proctor” (30). This response prepares the audience for the third act, as Putnam would then manipulate the judges involved in the witchcraft craze to accuse a key landowner in an attempt to... middle of paper... other villages, just as a real melting pot would with glass heated to extreme temperatures. Despite this, mass hysteria has occurred throughout US history, from Senator McCarthy's communist trials of the 1970s to the present day, with many Americans drawing suspicion from stereotypes of terrorists. Although today's suspicions often do not end in hanging, leading figures in society continue to exploit the emotions of human nature to get what these men desire. These influential men are as motivated as the men of Salem were; greed pushed them to acquire more; jealousy, for revenge; pride, for the sake of being right. Even if these influential men claim to be acting out of principle and not personal reasons, such as those described above, the opportunities for these men to exploit people in the state panic surely will not go untapped..