Arthur Miller and the
Red Scare
Introduction to The Crucible: Part Two
OBJECTIVES
I will be able:
Examine the features of communism and the Red
Scare in the United States
Assess Arthur Miller’s authorial intent
Evaluate the relationship between the Salem Witch
Trials and the Red Scare
The Lives of Others
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Veag-ptUkXI
Describe the society of East Germany in the early
1980s. What would be the possible problems with
this type of society?
Crash Course:
Capitalism and Communism
Features of Capitalism
•
System of government is democratic
•
Property is privately owned
•
Driven by free enterprise
•
Wealth distributed unevenly
Features of Capitalism
• Education and health care provided by
private entities
• Class distinctions: upper class, middle
class and working class
• Freedom of the press
• Focus is on the individual and his/her own
progress in life
Features of Communism:
• System of government is totalitarian
• Property is owned by the state
• No free enterprise is allowed
• Wealth distributed equally
Features of Communism:
• Education and health care provided by the
state
• Press controlled and owned by the state
• Classless society: all members of society
are considered to be equal
• Focus is on the progress of the community
as a whole
The Cold War
After World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union
emerged as the world’s superpowers. They soon became
embroiled in what is known as the Cold War.
The Soviet Union (U.S.S.R.) was trying to influence
countries in Eastern Europe and around the world to
become Communist.
The United States was trying to influence countries in
Western Europe and around the world to become
Capitalists.
STOP COMMUNISM AT
HOME!
Many Americans were
afraid that America was
going to become
Communist.
Others were afraid that
there were Communist
spies in America trying
to steal America’s
secrets!
Capitalist vs. Communism
Containment
The U.S. wanted to stop the
spread of Communism at home
and abroad so they developed a
new policy called Containment.
The idea was to “contain”
communism and not let it spread
to any more areas in the world.
If you were the U.S. government
how would you contain
communism?
Propaganda against
Communism
What is this poster
trying to say about
Communism?
Joseph McCarthy
Senator Joseph McCarthy
of Wisconsin started a
hunt to find Communists
in America.
His goal was to put
people that supported
Communism in jail, or get
them fired from their jobs.
Joseph McCarthy
McCarthy said he had a list of people that were
Communists. Many on the list were actors, politicians, and
business leaders!
McCarthy investigated various government departments
and questioned a large number of people about their
political past. Some people lost their jobs after they
admitted they had been members of the Communist Party.
McCarthy made it clear to the witnesses that the only way
of showing that they had abandoned their left-wing views
was by naming other members of the party.
McCarthyism and the Red
Scare
• This hunt and anti-communist hysteria became
known as McCarthyism or the “Red Scare.”
• McCarthy promoted unfounded accusations and
suspicions of communism in many quarters, most
prominently within the entertainment industry
through the House on Un-American Activities
Committee (HUAC).
McCarthyism and the Red
Scare
• HUAC investigated communism within Hollywood,
calling a number of playwrights, directors and
actors known for left-wing views to testify.
• Some of these, including film director Elia Kazan,
testified for the committee to avoid prison
sentences, but the Hollywood Ten, a group of
entertainers, refused to testify and were convicted
of contempt and sentenced to up to one year in
prison.
McCarthyism and the Red
Scare
• Over three hundred other entertainers were placed
on a blacklist for possible communist views and
were thus forbidden to work for major Hollywood
studios (many of these were writers who worked
under pseudonyms at the time).
• Arthur Miller was one of the blacklisted artists.
McCarthy’s Fall
McCarthy was not being
truthful. He fabricated most,
if not all, of the list. He was
eventually caught and was
forced to leave the Senate.
However, he destroyed many
people’s lives. Why do you
think he was so successful?
Arthur Miller
Arthur Miller was born on October 17,
1915 in New York City to Jewish
immigrants. His father owned a
women's clothing manufacturing
business employing 400 people. But
in the Wall Street Crash of 1929, the
family lost nearly everything
and moved to Queens.
Miller began writing at a very early age
and by the time he graduated from the
University of Michigan, he
had begun to receive recognition as a
playwright.
His play All My Sons (1947) received the Drama Critics’
Circle Award and his play Death of a Salesman (1949)
won the Pulitzer Prize.
In 1953, Miller wrote The Crucible. Miller was concerned
about what was happening in the United States where the
“Red Scare”, initiated
and fueled by Senator Joe McCarthy, had Americans
frightened of their neighbours.
In order to vocalize his criticism, he selected an era in
America history — the Salem Witch trials of 1692 —which
he believed paralleled the McCarthy era.
Definition: Crucible (n)
1) A severe test of patience or belief; a trial.
2)A place, time, or situation in which powerful
intellectual, social, economic, or political forces meet.
3)A metal container used to heat material to a very high
temperature.
4)A hollow area at the bottom of a furnace where metal
collects.
• Miller was refused a passport by the State Department
to attend the opening of The Crucible in Brussels in
1954. The reason given was, “the applicant was
suspected of being a supporter of the Communist
movement.”
• He was called upon to testify before the Committee on
Un-American Activities, but refused to “name names.”
• He was convicted of contempt
of Congress in 1956.
• The conviction was overturned
by a higher court in 1958.
Miller’s characters struggle
with power conflicts,
personal and social
responsibility, the
repercussions of past
actions, and the conflict
between hope and guilt. He
once said he believed
theater has a unique ability
to “change the world.”