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ARTHUR MILLER
McCarthyism and The Crucible
Why did Miller write this play in the 1950’s, hundreds of years after the historical Salem Witch trials?
“It would probably never have occurred to me to write a play about the Salem witch trials of 1692 had I not seen some astonishing correspondences with that calamity in the America of the late forties and early fifties…my basic need was to respond to a phenomenon which, with only small exaggeration, one could say was paralyzing a whole generation and in an amazingly short time was drying up the habits of trust and toleration in public discourse.
“I refer, of course, to the anticommunist rage that threatened to reach hysterical proportions and sometimes did. I can’t remember anyone calling it an ideological war, but I think now that that is what it amounted to. Looking back at the period, I suppose we very rapidly passed over anything like a discussion or debate and into something quite different, a hunt not alone for subversive people but ideas and even a suspect language.”
- Arthur Miller, Echoes Down the Corridor
Essential Question
How can an author use a historical situation to illustrate a current problem?
History leading up to the McCarthy Trials
In 1919, a group of Communists (the newest, most radical political view to date) overthrew the Czar (king) of Russia.
Known as the “October Revolution,” this shift in power led to the growth of the Soviet Union.
Most Americans, though wary of Communism, didn’t think about it too much.
Communism was somewhat popular among left leaning groups such as artists and intellectuals, and an American Communist Party began.
The party was never large or powerful, but it existed nonetheless.
America’s Struggle with Russia
WWII still fresh in minds of Americans US proved to be super power
Lost many, but damage to land was spared – US emerged as wealthiest and strongest
USSR – America’s ally in WWII – discovered secret to atomic bomb – challenged US as supreme power
Scientists who worked on bomb for US were under suspicion when USSR got secrets
Spies who were convicted convinced Americans that more Communist spies lived among them
America’s Struggle with Russia
US & USSR began buildup of nuclear missiles If one launched, other would retaliate, and world would end Belief in US was that USSR had less to lose, so they would
likely strike first.
Following WWII, was it still okay to hold Communist views in America?
Despite the freedoms guaranteed in the Bill of Rights, it became very out of style to be a Communist or to have formerly been a Communist.
As the United States stockpiled arms and began competition with the Soviets, ANYTHING that dealt with Communism became seen as a threat.
Fear of Communism in America
Americans feared another conflict w/Russia 1947 Truman launched a
domestic war against Communism
HUAC (House UnAmerican Activities Committee) was born. HUAC was a bipartisan,
Congressional committee that investigated anyone it thought to be “UnAmerican.”
Ex. Order 9835
Ex. Order 9835 was a loyalty review program ensuring maximum protection of country – Led to hysteria (If there is a need for this program, Communism in the country must be a problem.) 1947-1952 – 6.6 million people were investigated.
Americans were convinced of spying going on. Fed. Govt., states, cities, counties, corps, educational
institutions, and labor unions began their own investigations
1949 – 11 leaders of Communist Party of US indicted Charged w/ conspiracy to overthrow US govt
HUAC turns to Hollywood
Numerous actors, playwrights, and musicians were interrogated, and several admitted to formerly holding Communist views.
19 people were originally named, and they in turn were asked to name more names (sound familiar?)
Eventually, Hollywood studios, afraid of upsetting the powerful committee (backed by the government), created BLACKLISTS. These were very simply lists of people who had been
named or even mentioned in the HUAC hearings. Over 300 entertainers were placed on blacklists at one
point or another. Once on a blacklist, these people could not work anywhere in the entertainment industry.
The Red Scare
Mass media fueled Red Scare
Magazine articles, novels, movies portraying Communists as superhuman demons, devious, highly-skilled fiend
Americans feared Communism was threatening American life
1950 Gallup poll showed that 41% of US citizens predicted another war w/i 5 years
Senator Joseph McCarthy
WV – 1950 – accused Democratic administration of protecting and supporting Communists in American govt. The past years under
Democratic leaders had been “twenty years of treason,” under the “idiocy of a Truman, rotted by the deceit of an Acheson (asst. sec. of dept. of state during WWII), corrupted by red slime of a White.”
McCarthy Accusations
America fell victim, out of fear, to the ridiculous charges made by McCarthy Entered into a period when the rational mind
was affected by fear Similar to Salem in time of witch hunts – panic and
fear caused by accusations of tormented Salem girls Even high govt. leaders could not act freely w/o
taking into consideration the effect it might have on McCarthy’s investigations.
Some began labeling McCarthy’s activities as “witch-hunts”
McCarthy Accusations
McCarthy’s “Laundry List” capitalized on the Red Scare but did not begin it
250 members of state department accused of being members of American Communist Party, then 57, then 81 on Senate floor
Got info from friend in FBI Investigations began; all
proved false, rumor, lies
The Bold McCarthy
McCarthy claimed that those who opposed his hearings were Communists Similarly, the judges in Salem claimed that
those who feared the courts were guilty. Any public official who offered criticism of
the hearings ended up defending himself against the charge of being a part of the Communist conspiracy
Fearless, McCarthy would openly criticize everyone, including President Truman, whom he called to be impeached for removing MacArthur from his command in Korea, saying that the President must have been drunk when he made that decision
McCarthy targets Arthur Miller Miller was an established and award winning
playwright already. He was also married to Marilyn Monroe, who
became a bargaining chip in his investigation. Of course, as you could guess, HUAC wanted Miller
to name his friends and associates in the entertainment industry. He spoke basically the same words he would eventually give to his character Francis Nurse (I do not want to bring trouble on my friends.)
He would not (like the Proctor he would eventually create).
Miller’s Role in McCarthy Trials
On May 31, 1957, Miller was found guilty of contempt of Congress for refusing to reveal the names of members of a literacy circle suspected of Communist affiliation to the House Un-American Activities Committee, although his conviction was later reversed.
Miller went on to be one of America’s most celebrated playwrights, and his play can be applied to any situation where people are faced with the problem of blindly following mass hysteria, guilt by association, and their freedom to be an individual within a larger society.
Effects of McCarthyism
Large segment of American public was ready to accept these false and irrational charges, impairing the effectiveness of the American govt.
Effects of McCarthyism
McCarthyism affected 2000 actors/writers, directors/producers; 600 professors; library bookshelves Not white, middle class,
Anglo Americans Targeted African
Americans, Jewish, intell, union organizers, immigrants, professors, artists, musicians, and poets Lost jobs, homes, US
citizenship
McCarthy’s Downfall
McCarthy took on US Army Attacked many
reputable officers Led to his decline in
popularity (just as it would today if criticism of military heroes took place)
The Play Real Life in America in the 1950s
witchcraft(an unseen threat that did not prove to be a legitimate and concentrated threat)
Communism
the court, Danforth, Parris etc… HUAC and McCarthy
Proctor Arthur Miller (asked to rat on friends, wife brought into the picture)
list of condemned witches Blacklists (though people didn’t die, their careers were ruined…)
Putnam and others used witchcraft hysteria for personal gain. Parris tried to hide behind his power.
McCarthy used his accusations for political and personal gain
The Arthur Miller play The Crucible, written during the McCarthy era, used the Salem witch trials as a metaphor for the McCarthyism of the 1950’s, suggesting that the process of McCarthyism-style persecution can occur at any time and in any place.
McCarthyism parallels in The Crucible
Why Miller Wrote The Crucible
“On a lucky afternoon I happened upon a book, The Devil in Massachusetts, by Marion Starkey, a narrative of the Salem witch-hunt of 1692. I knew this story from my college reading more than a decade earlier, but now in this changed and darkened America it turned a wholly new aspect toward me, namely, the poetry of the hunt. Poetry may seem an odd word for a witch-hunt, but I saw now that there was something of the marvelous in the spectacle of the whole village, if not an entire province, whose imagination was literally captured by a vision of something that wasn’t there…
In the stillness of the Salem courthouse, surrounded by the images of the 1950s but with my head in 1692, what the two eras had in common gradually gained definition. Both had the menace of concealed plots, but most startling were the similarities in the rituals of defense, the investigative routines; 300 years apart, both prosecutions alleged membership of a secret, disloyal group. Should the accused confess, his honesty could only be probed by naming former confederates. The informer became the axle of the plot’s existence and the investigation's necessity.”
-Arthur Miller, “Are You Now or Were You Ever?” from The Guardian/The Observer
Ticket out the door
Answer the following question, using the Crucible and your notes from today as specific support:
How can an author use a historical situation to illustrate a current problem?
