Ily Logeais Mrs.Knoll English 10 Per.7 23 October 2015 Author and History of The Crucible Born in Harlem in 1915, Arthur Miller came from humble beginnings and grew up during America’s hardest financial time; The Great Depression. Despite his rough childhood, Miller became and continues to be one of most influential playwrights of all time. He managed to put himself through college at Michigan state where he wrote his first play No Villain which explores theories of marxism. He divorced his first wife and mother of their two children in 1956 and married big time movie star Marilyn Monroe. "...the great American brain and the great American body" (Mailer) as Norman Mailer, an involved political advocate and American author, described …show more content…
The committee, which flourished due to its large political support, refused to renew Millers passport because of his possible communist beliefs. He was called to testify on June 21st, 1966 and was found guilty of contempt of congress. However, the H.U.A.C had a reputation for being unconstitutional when it came to their investigations and eventually the charges were dropped due to the officer in charge, Francis Walter, amendment violations. The importance of the HCUA declined in the coming years and was renamed the House Internal Security in 1969. Eventually, the system became too problematic and the intense, anti-communist group was shut down in 1975 …show more content…
It generated its name from Senator Joseph McCarthy, a strict anti-communist who is known for his unconstitutional accusations. Communism suggests that society is better off with the possession of all belongings held by a faction or state. It is directly related to the theories of Karl Marx whose beliefs were strongly related to socialism and his general abhorrence of capitalism ("Class Differentiation and..."). The American Communist Party was established in New York in 1919 and is still ongoing in the present day. Just as the U.S. joined WWII in the early 1940s, the A.C.P reached its climax and had reunified greatly in hopes of a Soviet-American ally resistance towards Nazi Germany (Victor G. Devinatz). With its origination in the Soviet Union, communism was an immediate red flag for the U.S. as well as consisting of the opposing concepts America was built
Brogan Fair Fair 1 Mr. Chase Glorfield English 4B 1/3/2023 Why the attitude of the 1950s influenced Arthur Miller to write the Crucible. Many things from the 1950’s influenced the writing of The Crucible by Arthur Miller. It does show evidence that the things he experienced in his time period were reflected in the play. His marriage experiences, communism and the red scare, and the attitude of the 1950’s can be seen in several of the writings in The Crucible. "The Crucible" is a somewhat made-up situation that was about the 1692 Salem Witch Trials.
Government Official Dean Acheson and George Marshal, were question for possibly being apart of the Communist Party. These claims made the people of the Republican Party, disavowed McCarthy and were in shock. While others of this government shaked their heads, the people who followed McCarthy cheered. The people began to reward the communist Party hunter with other accusations of who was in the party. McCarthy has formed an army that the officials were afraid to face head on without fear of the Republican Party
Allegation that was made against the government was that the governments claimed over 200 members were communist. This is cause by the act
Those who were accused were assumed guilty, put on trial, and expected to divulge the names of other Communist sympathizers when people Failed to do so led to sanctions. The media were not willing to stand up to Senator McCarthy for fear of being accused of being a Communist. Arthur Miller was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee and subsequently
President Truman stated in a speech that “malicious propaganda has gone too far”, and he describes the fear that Americans had over losing their jobs or being labeled as communist. This exemplifies the growing sentiments regarding the negative influence and expansion of communism during the time period. During the 1940s, a Loyalty review Board was created, which investigated the backgrounds of millions of federal employees. This sparked a fear in Americans of losing their jobs over suspected communist ties. Furthermore, Senator Joseph McCarthy only exacerbated Americans’ fears of communism with his investigations and accusations of hundreds of State Department employees having ties to communism.
In the 1940 's and 1950 's, an anti-Communist movement swept the United States of America. Fueled by the anti-Communist actions of Congress, particularly a Senator from Wisconsin by the name of Joseph McCarthy, the movement escalated and many people lost their jobs as a result of various blacklists. Congressional hearings, both in front of HUAC and McCarthy Senate committee were a study in organized persecution. The actions taken during the "Red Scare" were eventually given the general name McCarthyism. McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of subversion or treason without proper regard for evidence.
Joseph McCarthy gained power because of people’s fear of communism (“Red Monday”). McCarthy claimed that 205 government officials were communists without supporting it with evidence which caused a panic (Fried 1). Frightened Americans asked for an explanation and instead McCarthy accused people, but he had the people’s support because he was against communists and that blinded people to the true facts (Fried 1). With the Smith Act and the House Un-American Activities Committee in place to ease the fear of communism, McCarthy’s unjust trials were able to be conducted (“Red Monday”). Rights were quickly being taken away to prevent the spread of communism, however, it was so that McCarthy could keep gaining power without anyone being able to say otherwise (“Red Monday”).
Now, the accusations during the McCarthy era were a lot more subtle. Many of the names given to the House of Un-American Activities Committee were the names of well-known celebrities. The HUAC was the head of this McCarthian take over. The HUAC called many prominent “intellectuals” before them for communist questioning. One of the more famous questionings were that of Elia Kazan.
During the 1950s, America was on edge, as Russia’s dictator Stalin bolstered the kind of government that went against what World War II was fought for. As communism developed into a shunned philosophy, it nonetheless spread into other parts of Asia, such as Korea, China, and Vietnam. As a safeguard against its potential arrival to the United States, the American society became paranoid and
In the late 1940s – early 1950s, Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy made the grandiose pledge to uncover a communist plot to overthrow democracy in United States. No one was safe from persecutions, and the “witch hunts” for communism began. In response to the mass hysteria over this communist infiltration, Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible. In the play, the people of Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 sought to destroy the devil’s influence by seeking and destroying witches. This began the Salem Witchcraft Trials.
When I was in 7th grade, I had played football for the school. One day during summer camp, we were going over plays and positions and one play someone had said something to me. During the next play I was angry at the kid so I went directly for him. I dropped my shoulder and hit him hard and he laid flat like a pancake on the turf.
Post World War II the United States was suffering from what is called “Red Scare”. The Red scare was a propaganda tactic to make the American public fear the communist countries. This propaganda was fueled further by the Korean War and the Cold War. This was fueled by a congressman by the name of Joe McCarthy. President Harry Truman also added on to this propaganda as well.
Zi Liu Ms. Elder College English 11 The Crucible Break Assignment ACT ONE 1. Why did the Salem settlement need a theocracy? Why had the settlers begun to turn toward individualism?
McCarthy manipulated the media, told outrageous stories about the communist conspiracy in the United States, and used his power and America’s fear to besmirch any opponents as “communist sympathizers” to make sure he remained at the top. Actually, most conservative members of Congress supported McCarthy because it helped them gain votes during elections. The majority of McCarthy 's movement attacked liberals and members of the Democratic Party and this aided anyone who was not part of those topics and organizations. Then McCarthy began to target the Army because they wouldn’t favor David Schine, one of his former investigators, who had been drafted in. “Senator Joseph McCarthy began hearings investigating the United States Army, which he charged with being ‘soft’ on communism.
McCarthyism was a vociferous campaign against alleged communists in the US government. Many of the accused were blacklisted or lost their jobs, although most did not in fact belong to the Communist Party. In these two events, many similarities