Adam Erskine ENG 143 Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is written during a period of momentous social and political discontent in the United States. The Cold War signified a clash of powers which both condemned the other to be evil; the communists, for instance, marked the capitalists and all of their conspirators as evil by means of depriving the whole of the freedoms of economy through exploitation; the capitalists denounced the communists as evil by means of depriving everyone freedom to participate in an open economy. Both sides, however, had striking similarities in how they conducted their searches for what both believed to be traitors to humanity. Both conducted a series of “witch hunts”, the product of which
The Bolsheviks were communists. Americans were horrified by the newspaper accounts of the violence. Even more, communists believed in government
When Communism became something real and physical, America felt their economy was even more endangered, concerned that it would spread to them and destroy what they had. Communism and Capitalism are opposite concepts, and so the Americans greatly feared Communism, something that put, what they considered to be, an excellent society in jeopardy. A drastic change was too large for them to cope with, and was one they saw as negative, fearful it would result in the deconstruction of a stable society. There will always be an inevitable conflict when Communism and Capitalism are pitched against each other, and so the Americans felt threatened by this. The West felt threatened by Communism too because it caused Russia to pull out of the war, thus losing them a good ally.
Americans were easily influenced by propaganda and rumors, the line between fake and fact became unclear. The 1950s was a time of fear. The greatest and most prevalent source of fear came from the threat communism. This fear infiltrated every aspect of American life—from international politics to the press and media. The driving force of this fear and its effects
New York: Merit, 1965. Print. Pg 16. [ 8 ]. Malcolm, X., and Alex Haley.
Organizations such as the HUAC were corrupt and overflowing with power at the time, ruining lives for their own self indulgence. It was a time to be afraid of everyone and everything, because you never knew who might be a communist spy for Russia. O 2. Red Scare (first and second) The first red scare was brought about by the immense and widespread fear of Bolshevism
This particular phase in history of the United States is referred to as either ‘The Red Scare’ or ‘McCarthyism’ because of the government-initiated propaganda against Communism. This era’s anti-communist hearings destroyed lives and friendships as paranoia swept America, according to Arthur Miller (Miller “Are You”). “The Crucible” evokes a lethal brew of illicit sexuality, and a fear of the supernatural and political manipulation, a combination that was similar to McCarthyism. When Miller wrote it, Senator Joseph McCarthy and the House Committee on Un-American Activities wanted him to sign an anti-communist declaration because the object was to destroy the least credibility of any and all ideas associated with socialism and communism (Miller “Why I”). Whether McCarthy was right or wrong, people can learn some important lessons from the past, present, and future.
A History of the American Revolution. Da Capo Press: New York, 1969. Anderson, Fred. The War That Made America. Penguin Group: New York, 2005.
How did Hitler invade the soviet Union, why did he invade the Soviet Union, and how does the novel “Soldier X” by Don Wulffson, describe war to what war was really like. Hitler broke his pact with the Soviet Union for several reasons. One of the main reasons he broke his pact is the fact that Adolf Hitler was a greedy human being and wanted all of Europe and eventually the entire world. Once his attack on Britain failed due to a thick, annoying fog, he decided that he would break his secret pact with the Soviet Union and invade. He becomes too confident and to greedy, “Clearly, no longer was it Lebensraum
Name Date Class Professors Name TITLE 1. The Cold War era was a period of history marked by political conflict which resulted in military tension and aggression between communism and the western world. Communism was growing and the western world saw this form of government as a threat to the status quo. The two main players were the Soviet Union, the powerhouse of the communist world, and the United States, the most powerful country in the western world. Working through spheres of influence these two ideologies came into direct conflict on many occasions.