1. The Crucible Background Info.
Arthur Miller
The Cold War
McCarthyism

2. Written by Arthur Miller
Lived through WWI, WWII, the Great Depression, the Korean War, the Cold War, the Vietnam War, etc.

3. He’s Best Known For…
Miller's plays generally address social issues and center around an individual in a social dilemma, or an individual at the mercy of society.
Death of a Salesman, 1949
Addresses loss of identity and a man's inability to accept change within himself and society. 
Failure to achieve the American Dream.
The Crucible, 1953
Focuses on paranoid hysteria as well as the individual's struggle to remain true to ideals and convictions.
Marriage to Marilyn Monroe,

4. The Cold War ( )

5. The Cold War Was…
A time of political and military conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union, the world’s two largest super-powers.
Even though they were allies during WWII, they distrusted each other immensely as soon as the war ended.

6. Why? Look at how different the two countries were: America
Soviet Union
Free elections
No elections or fixed
Democratic
Autocratic / Dictatorship
Capitalist
Communist
‘Survival of the fittest’
Everybody helps everybody
Richest world power
Poor economic base
Personal freedom
Society controlled by the NKVD (secret police)
Freedom of the media
Total censorship
During WWII, they were allies…Nazi Germany, but as soon as the war ended, their distrust for each other grew. Both had massive military power. The Soviet Union had a strong army while the US had the A-bomb.

7. Communist Beliefs in America
Belief in communist practices or Marxist Communism (developed by Karl Marx) was not against the law in the United States.
In fact communist principles have been practiced many times throughout our country’s history.
The United States has always had many communist sympathizers and the 1950s was no different.
However, our biggest enemy in the 1950s was a communist country that wanted to spread communism throughout the world, just as the U.S. wanted to spread democracy.

8. Enter Joseph McCarthy
The United States had one big enemy: The Soviet Union.
And Communism
After WWII, the United States became increasingly concerned about the spread of Communism.
McCarthy took advantage of the United State’s distrust of the Soviet Union by accusing government officials and Hollywood personalities (such as Lucille Ball) of being “subversive” if they were too left-leaning.
McCarthy embarked on what is often described as a "witch hunt" to root out and prosecute communists and sympathizers -- using controversial techniques and often making accusations with scant evidence.

9. Cold War Timeline
1945 : ‘A’-Bomb dropped on Hiroshima + Nagasaki. USA ahead in the arms race.
1947 : Marshall Aid to the west of Europe. Stalin of USSR refused it for Eastern Europe.
1948 : start of the Berlin Blockade – ended in 1949
1949 : NATO established; USSR exploded her first ‘A’-bomb; China becomes communist
1950 : Korean War started.
1952 : USA exploded her first hydrogen bomb.
1953 : Korean War ended. USSR exploded her first hydrogen bomb. Stalin died.
1955 : Warsaw Pact created. ‘Peaceful coexistence’ called for.
1956 : Hungary revolts against USSR. Suez Crisis.
1957 : Sputnik launched.
1959 : Cuba becomes a communist state.
1961 : Military aid sent to Vietnam by USA for the first time. Berlin Wall built.
1962 : Cuban Missile Crisis.
1963 : Huge increase of American aid to Vietnam.
1965 : USA openly involved in Vietnam.
1967 : Six-Day War in Middle East.
1968 : USSR invades Czechoslovakia.
1973 : Yom Kippur War.
1979 : USSR invaded Afghanistan.
1986 : Meeting in Iceland between USSR (Gorbachev) and USA (Reagan).
1987 : INF Treaty signed.
1989: Berlin Wall is torn down.

10. McCarthyism and The Crucible
Arthur Miller used the Salem witch trials as a metaphor for McCarthy's communist "witch hunt," which upset McCarthy.
Miller was then questioned and found guilty of having communist beliefs, but the conviction was overturned in 1957.

11. End Note
As it turns out, many of the people McCarthy targeted actually did have communist ties, but much of the proof wasn't revealed until years later.­