Hello. You did not enter the text or the play to which this question refers, which makes it impossible to answer. However, I will try to help you in the best possible way.
Macarthism was a historic period in the United States marked by a "witch hunt" system stimulated by the Red Scare that happened in 1950 and that was strongly associated with extreme fear of any communist element or threat that could be established in the country. Macarthism was established as a period marked by repression, political persecution, defamation, subversion and accusations without evidence, where people were accused and violently reprimanded for being associated with communism.
Although the play "The Crucible" was not mentioned in your question, we can associate it with this historical period, since like the Macarthism, the play presents a period of hysteria where people are unjustly accused and severely punished for something that provoked a deep fear in society, which was witchcraft. The difference is that Macarthismo promoted political persecution, while in "The Crucible", we are introduced to religious persecution.
