What is McCarthyism? It is the public assault on an individual or an individual's character through unfounded and unsubstantiated accusations, essentially the repudiation of a person's reputation. Joe McCarthy was the Wisconsin senator who evoked this era of fear and paranoia by inflaming the current fear of Communist world domination enveloping the nation. He did so by announcing that he had discovered "57 cases of individuals who appear to be members of or certainly loyal to the Communist Party, but who nevertheless still contribute to shaping our foreign policy." (McCarthy, 1950, p. 2), the number of people implicated later rose to 205. These allegations launched McCarthy into the national spotlight where he began his smear campaign against many famous Americans, commonly referred to as “witchcraft.” -hunt". Due to McCarthy's actions, up to 12 people, hundreds of people were jailed for their work. He then turned his attention to the book ban because he claimed there were 30,000 books written by all shades of communists. After its lists were made public, all were removed from the overseas library programme. But he wasn't done yet, he then attacked members of the entertainment world. He had writers and actors put on trial. Many of these people have been blacklisted and worse, all without a shred of evidence. When people spoke out against McCarthy they were thrown onto the communist bandwagon, until enough people came forward to rebuke McCarthy's unprecedented tactics. He then fell from political power in disgrace on December 2, 1954. This ended the McCarthy era, but not the atmosphere of paranoia that hovers over the nation today. One of the haunted men... half of the paper. .....at great cost to himself. Giles Corey is the first person to openly challenge the Tribunal, but this is only possible because John Proctor stood his ground first by giving others the courage to stand up for what they know is morally correct. This in turn seems to be a common catalyst wherever there is unforgivable persecution. Works Cited McCarthy, J. (1950, February 2009). Speech in Wheeling, West Virginia. Retrieved December 2, 2013, from http://teachamericanhistory.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/mccarthy_wheeling_speech.pdfMiller, A. (1996, October 21). Life and letters because I wrote "the crucible". The New Yorker, 158. Retrieved December 2, 2013, from http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1996/10/21/1996_10_21_158_TNY_CARDS_000373902Miller, R. A. & Picker, D. V. (producers), and Hytner, N. (director). (1996). The Crucible [movie]. United States: 20th Century Fox.