John Proctor said, "show honor now, show a stony heart and sink them with it!" (Miller 1333).
Ethel and Julius Rosenberg are people of the 1950's who are similar to those who embody good in Salem. This couple was accused of conspiring against the US government. Like Proctors, Cory, and Nurse, the Rosenberg couple embedded fear into the public, only adding fuel to the fire of hysteria. Although the allegations of conspiracy were never proven false, this couple too died for something they believed in, the freedom of choice and thought (Fried 1).
The most evident of character homogeny involves Joseph McCarthy. This man used his position of power to manipulate hysteria. Senator McCarthy used this position to create the Alien Registration Act the House of Un-American Activities. "The Alien Registration Act made it illegal for anyone in the United States to advocate, abet, or teach the desirability of overthrowing the government"(Fried,1). Because of these two policies, Joseph McCarthy was able to use interrogation methods that were previously considered illegal. At first McCarthy targeted mainly Democrats associated with the New Deal Policies. Harry Truman and other members of this Democratic administration were accused of being soft on communism. In McCarthy's Campaign, Truman was made out to be a dangerous liberal, which helped the Republican candidate, Dwight Eisenhower with the 1952 presidential election. Because of what happened to McCarthy's opponents in the 1950 elections, many politicians kept their opinions about him silent. As the Boston Post pointed out, "Attacking him.is regarded as a certain method of committing suicide" (Fried 1). One exception was William Benton, the owner of Encyclopaedia Britannica, and also a senator of Connecticut. McCarthy immediately began to query Benton. Claiming that while he was Assistant Secretary of State, he had protected known communists and he had purchased "lewd art works" (Fried 1).