The Crucible 
 
by Arthur Miller
 
The period (from about 1950 to 1956) was sparked by Joseph
Raymond McCarthy's ideas about communism in the United
States government. This was a period of political unrest
and mass hysteria. In 1950, McCarthy had said that there
were communists in the State Department. This accusation
was never proven, and the public didn't pay attention to
McCarthy's words in the early years of this era. During the
year of 1953, McCarthy became chairman of the Senate
subcommittee on investigations. This made his accusations
even stronger. Throughout the following years he continued
to make his ideas about the government known. In 1954 he
accused the secretary of the army of concealing foreign
espionage activities. McCarthy started investigating all of
his accusations, but was brought up on charges of improper
means of investigation. These charges were ultimately
dropped.
 
One will see in the play " The Crucible" by Arthur Miller
that the United States basically despised Russia, during
the 1950's, because Russia was a communist country .The
United States named Russia "The Devil" (according to the
play), because of their communistic and dictatorial ways
over the people. "The necessity of the Devil may become
evident as a weapon, a weapon designed and used time and
time again in every age to whip men into surrender to a
particular church or church-state."1 Besides what Miller's
idea of what communism is, he also has an idea that if one
is not a communist, or against communism, then they are for
the United States government, and if a U.S. citizen does
not have the same reactions towards capitalistic "doings"
as the rest of the country, then that citizen is considered
to be communist. "In the countries where Communism exists,
all resistance of any import is linked to the totally
malign capitalist succubae, and in America any man who is
not reactionary in his views is open to the charges of
alliance with the Red Hell."2 This is a very important
statement because it links the views of Miller to the
accusations of McCarthy.
 
Basically by linking these two together, one can come to
the conclusion that the United States is a hypocrite
(according to the two opinions). Arthur Miller says that
the U.S. dislikes Russia because Russia is communistic, and
that Russia is "The Devil" and "Red Hell", but according to
McCarthy the U.S. it self has a government made up of
communists. Then, reading more of Miller's opinions, one
can come to the conclusion that according to Miller,
McCarthy is a communist. Miller says that if one has
different views then the rest of the country (like
McCarthy) then they are a communist. With all of McCarthy's
accusations he was clearly against the views of the United
States' government._ Both McCarthy and Miller have
different views on the same subject, but when linked
together, one can come up with many different conclusions
about McCarthy, Miller, the United States and its
government. 
 
Endnotes
 
1)Miller, Arthur; The Crucible; Penguin Books inc. New
York, 1976.Page 34._2) 

2)Miller, page 34
 
Bibliography
 
Funk and Wagnalls New Encyclopedia, vol.16; Funk and
Wagnalls inc. Chicago, 1988.
 
Kennan, Geoge F., Memories 1950-1963; Little Brown and Co.;
Boston, 1982.__ 

Miller, Arthur, The Crucible; Penguin Books U.S.A Inc.,
N.Y.; 1976.