The Minority Report

In the mid-20th century, especially 1938 to 1954, the United States government was preoccupied with the Cold War and feared the spread of socialism both abroad and at home. From 1950 until 1954, Senator Joseph R. McCarthy from Wisconsin “claimed to possess a list of 205 card-carrying Communists employed” within the government of the United States (“McCarthyism/The ‘Red Scare.’” Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum, & Boyhood Home, National Archives). McCarthy’s “fear-mongering created a climate of fear and suspicion across the country” (“McCarthyism and the Red Scare.” Miller Center, University of Virginia, 2022). Today, McCarthyism is defined by the American Heritage Dictionary as:

1. The political practice of publicizing accusations of disloyalty or subversion with insufficient regard to evidence; and 2. The use of methods of investigation and accusation regarded as unfair, in order to suppress opposition (“McCarthyism/The ‘Red Scare’”).

These definitions are particularly relevant to “The Minority Report.” Although the story’s first printing (in 1956) occurred after McCarthy’s condemnation in 1954 and close to his death, its original manuscript, dated 1954, contains many references to the Red Scare and McCarthyist attitudes. Anderton himself exemplifies this, with his tendency to jump to conclusions based on very little—if any—evidence. While he does end up being correct that the whole case was a setup, his early, vocal accusations against Witwer and his own wife are mostly baseless and stem from his own insecurities about being unwillingly replaced by a younger man (Witwer). Kaplan, whose machinations could allude to President Eisenhower’s “indirect approach” to opposing McCarthy (“McCarthyism and the Red Scare”), simultaneously supports McCarthyist principles when he seems to validate Anderton’s suspicions of Witwer and Lisa (80).

In fact, the entire Precrime system reflects the Red Scare, as perceived criminals are arrested and punished based on crimes they have not yet committed (72). As Anderton concedes, “We’re taking in individuals who have broken no law. [...] We claim they’re culpable. They, on the other hand, eternally claim they’re innocent. And, in a sense, they are innocent” (72). The whole system, as Anderton is forced to acknowledge, is a catch-22 scenario: the precogs’ predictions imply that the criminals are guilty, but the accused have no way to prove their innocence, as they are arrested and punished before any crime can actually take place (72). It is the very definition of “unfair investigation,” and the evidence leveled against them is itself flawed, as precogs function on “the theory of multiple-futures” and therefore imply the possibility of at least one alternate choice (85).

The entire premise and setting of “The Minority Report” therefore parallel the Red Scare, although Dick differs from history in that he chooses to support the Precrime system, arguing that a smoothly operating—if flawed—justice system is more beneficial than an evidence-based, “post-crime punitive system of jails and fines” (72). As Witwer says, “punishment was never much of a deterrent, and could scarcely have afforded comfort to a victim already dead” (72). Whether this is true is left up to the reader’s interpretation.