Miller and McCarthy

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the history of communism and the perceived communist threat in the United States in the early 1950s. The paper discusses the repercussions of Arthur Miller's play, "The Crucible," as well as Joseph McCarthy's speech in 1950, where he held up a list of names he claimed proved that Truman's administration, as well as the State Department, was peppered with Communists and "Communist sympathizers". The paper concludes with the messages that can be learned from Miller's play in the United States, today.

From the Paper:

"Miller's play carries an important message for today. The United States of today is under a threat at least as real as the Communist threat of the late forties and early fifties was. We have had the graphic evidence from the attacks of September 11, 2001. Those attacks were driven ideologically, so once again the American public is caught up in a war of words, with some views "patriotic" and some "un-American." Both the events of the McCarthy hearings and Miller's play might serve as cautionary tales to warn us to stick to our legal principles and require solid proof before accusing people of being some form of "enemy of the state." The residents of Salem in the 17th century had more excuse than we would have, either during the McCarthy hearings or now. In Salem they fought a foe, Satan, who was by definition hard to detect and hard to see. The fact that brought McCarthy down was that he avoided evidence and relied on innuendo. In Salem they could not get verifiable proof, but as a democratic country we must always be ready to demand it."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Alves, Teresa. 2001. "'Some Enchanged Evening' -- Tuning in to the Amazing Fifties; switching off the Elusive Decade. American Studies International, Vol. 39.
• Bloom, Harold. The Crucible. Chelsea House, 1999.
• Johnson, Claudia Durst, and Johnson, Vernon E. Understanding the Crucible: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents. Greenwood Press, 1998.

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• Comparison Essay # 75457 : "The Crucible" and "On the Waterfront" "

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