Red+Scare+and+Arthur+Miller+Midterm


 * American playwright and was born in 1915.
 * He was born in Harlem, New York City.
 * His family was Jewish and from Poland. The family moved to a six-story building at 451 10th Street between Lenox and Fifth Avenues.
 * Isidore Miller, Arthur's father, was an illiterate Jewish immigrant from Poland. His successful ladies-wear manufacturer and shopkeeper was destroyed in the depression.
 * Augusta Barnett, Arthur's mother, was born in New York, but her father came from the same Polish town as the Millers.
 * Graduated from the University of Michigan in 1938. He began to see his future in play writing.
 * First Plays-
 * Honors at Dawn (1936)
 * No Villain (1937) (Which won the University of Michigan Hopwood Awards.)
 * Death of a Salesman (Won the Pulitzer prize in 1949.)
 * The Crucible (1953) was written during the McCarthy period when Americans were accusing each other of Pro-Communist beliefs.
 * ** The Red Scare refers to two distinct periods of strong anti-communism. The first Red Scare was from 1917 to 1920 and the Second Red Scare was from 1947 to 1957. There was a vast fear that communism would upset the capitalist social order in the US. The first Scare was about a worker revolution and radicalism. The second Scare was focused on communists penetrating the federal government.
 * Many of Miller’s friends were being attacked and accused of being communists.
 * Suspicions were heightened because of Joseph McCarthy, a young senator who was later censored. He made a public accusation that more than 200 "card carrying" communists had infiltrated the United States. These suspicions were later proven to be untrue, but still did enough damage to the country. People could not trust each other and friends were accusing friends left and right of being "Un-American."
 * In 1956, Miller was brought before the House of Un-American Activities Committee where he was found guilty of beliefs in communism.
 * The verdict was reversed in 1957 in an appeals court.
 * Interesting Facts:
 * Miller married Marylin Monroe in 1956 but divorced her in 1961.
 * In high school, Miller thought of himself more as an athlete than a student, and he had trouble getting teachers' recommendations for college
 * Arthur Miller wrote the Crucible during the time period where everyday Americans were being accused of being communists. This is very similar to the time and setting the Crucible takes place in. People within their own communities were being accused of being witches and condemned to die or thrown into jail.