 Jewish American playwright and essayist
 Most famous for Death of a Salesman, The Crucible and All my
Sons
 Early life
 Grew up in Harlem
 Middle child, born to Polish-Jewish immigrant parents
 Majored in journalism and worked as a reporter and night editor
for the student paper, the Michigan Daily
 Switched to an English Major—got his degree in 1938 (strong ties
to the university throughout his life , named a scholarship and a
theatre after him)
 Wrote Death of a Salesman in 1948, was a commercial
success, premiered on Broadway directed by Eli Kazan
 The play was performed on Broadway 742 times and won three
major awards
 In 1952, Kazan, appeared before the House Un-American
Activities Committee
 fearful of being blacklisted from Hollywood, Kazan named eight
members of the Group Theatre, who in recent years had been
fellow members of the Communist Party—one of the people he
accused was his long time friend, Arthur Miller (this ended their
friendship)
 After being accused of communism, Miller traveled to Salem,
Massachusetts to research the witch trials of 1692
 Miller likened the situation with the House Un-American
Activities Committee to the witch hunt in Salem in 1692
 Opened at the Beck Theatre on Broadway on January
22, 1953
 Today The Crucible is Miller's most frequently
produced work throughout the world[
 Miller and Kazan were close friends throughout the late
1940s and early 1950s, but after Kazan's testimony to
the HUAC, the pair's friendship ended
 they did not speak to each other for the next ten years
 Joseph McCarthy, US Republican Senator from Wisconsin
from 1947-1957
 Had trials/inquires of individuals regarding their political
activities when Americans were terrified of communism
and revolution
 Imprisoned hundreds of Americans on suspicion of being a
communist—most people could become “excused” if they
named other people who were communist
 Some 10,00-12,000 people lost their jobs—even getting a
subpoena to the council was often enough to be fired
 the word McCarthyism has entered American speech as
a general term for a variety of practices:
 aggressively questioning a person's patriotism,
 making poorly supported accusations,
 using accusations of disloyalty to pressure a person to
adhere to conformist politics or to discredit an opponent,
 subverting civil rights in the name of national security,
 McCarthyism can also be synonymous with the term witchhunt, both referring to mass hysteria and moral panic
 Married Marilyn Monroe in June 1958, divorced in
1961 (shortly before her death)
 Died of heart failure at 89 years old in 2005
 Homework: go online and do some investigating on a
topic you are assigned. Come back with information
to share with the class. Need 10 (minimum) facts
about your topic.
 Group 1: Salem witch trials
 Group 2: Witches
 Group 3: Mass hysteria
 Group 4: Puritanism
 Group 5: Scape Goat Theory
Day 2
Sharing time
 Get into groups with the people who had the same
topic as you
 Pick the most important items
 Make an informational poster about your topic
 Must be visible from around the room, accurate,
attractive and spelled correctly
 You will share/explain your information to the class