Mass Hysteria In American History

confessor stated that the reason there was no proof of a book that recovered. As if noting a weakness in her story, one confessor speculated “that the devil must keep the witches’ signatures because he “Carried [hers] away with him”(Triggs 2).
There have been events all throughout American history that have been monumental and has had events that led into mass hysteria caused by fear. Many of these events were brought on by the ignorance of others. Events like the mass internment of Japanese-Americans during World War Two and the Red-Scare brought on during the Cold War with the fear of Russian espionage in America. The 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Centers was one of the biggest events that caused not only an American epidemic of fear but a worldly epidemic. These three events are one of the just many examples of how the fear from the public can evolve into some of the biggest examples of mass hysteria in modern history.
The internment of Japanese-Americans during World War Two was a direct product of the fear that was caused when the …show more content…
The term ‘McCarthyism’ was coined during this time because of senator Joseph McCarthy. McCarthy rose to prominence because he accused many of those in the government of being communist. This created a huge fear within the government and lead to a witch hunt much like the ones experienced in 1692 Salem. While McCarthy had no solid proof of communist actions he stated at a rally in West Virginia “I have in my hand 57 cases of individuals who would appear to be either card carrying members or certainly loyal to the Communist Party, but who nevertheless are still helping to shape our foreign policy …”(McCarthy). This statement was then later repeated at a rally in Salt Lake and drew the attention of the media. The accusations later led to a ‘blacklist’ that who’s ever name was on that list their careers were practically over. Many famous artist were put on