House Un-American Activities Committee

Jeff Woods, Black Struggle Red Scare, concentrates on the American South during the 1950s-1960s. This time period marks some of the most trying times for blacks in the civil rights history. The book speaks about how ‘southern nationalist’ were attempting to protect the South from communism, and the merging of communist and civil rights movements. Southern nationalist feared that communism and the emerging of free African Americans will endanger the white supremacy, threaten their southern…

could no longer hold financial interests or own theaters. Another historical event also saw its beginnings during the 1930’s and 1940’s where American entertainers were denied employment opportunities due to suspected Communist affiliation. As the United States government, specifically the office of HUAC, turned to the film industry for ties to the American Communist Party, eventually hundreds of entertainers became blacklisted from the industry. These two events caused catastrophic damage to…

the leftist views portrayed in several productions produced by the Federal Theater Project. This led to an investigation of the Federal Theater Project by Republican Congress member Martin Dies. Dies was the head of the House of Un-American Activities Committee. This committee explored subversion by fascists and communists. Although the Congress’ ignorance of theater in general was apparent, Congress relentlessly pursued the cause. When the name “Christopher Marlowe” was stated,…

Scare in the 1950’s was just a modern day witch hunt. The “Crucible” is a perfect way to see how witch hunts went. The Red Scare and the “Crucible” share a lot of similarities. The first similarity is between the committee of judges in the “Crucible” and the House Un-American Activities…

than its membership, becoming influential to the progressive movement and infamous among the conservative right. Although highly unsuccessful in its primary objective, what the CPUSA really achieved was showing Americans just how “safe” they really were. The reaction to Communist Americans by the United States government throughout the 20th century would be comforting for many, but for some, the treatment of suspected communist sympathizers would be interpreted completely differently. At the…

Arthur Miller wrote a play in the early 1950s titled The Hook, a story about the Brooklyn waterfront. Asked to change the Brooklyn gangsters to Communists to make it more “American” by the FBI, Arthur Miller refused to do so. After this noncompliance to the FBI, he was accused of being a Communist himself. There were not any Communists in the Brooklyn waterfront, just like there was no witches in Salem. This incident can be…

Crucible a lot of the people thought there were witches in the town when there was not. This relates to the McCarthy situation because in McCarthy’s situation all over America they were worried about spy, Russian spies, Korean spies or just plain American spies. In both the book and in America people over reacted with this situation. For example how people over reacted, Walt Disney blamed his own co-workers of being communist when they weren't. Same thing in the book Abigail was blaming her own…

Movies were America’s form of visual entertainment before the invention of TV. Today, movies are seen as a lucrative and popular media industry. However, movies make less money than newspapers, television, and publishing. They are expensive, and they do not promise a return of profit. The technology behind movies had a long evolution. It first started with the invention of the photographic gun camera. This camera was used by Etienne- Jules Marey and Edward Muybridge. These men worked on…

McCarthyism in the early 1950’s and the treatment of homosexuals during the subsequent Lavender Scare. Many lost their jobs, relationships, and lives due to uninformed people with a substantial amount of power and influence. As the newly Westernized American land provided a home for the residents of Salem, Massachusetts,…

America’s Crucible: Witches and Communists on TrialArthur Miller was widely successful in connecting the past Salem Witch Trials with the era of McCarthyism he lived in. The witch trials and McCarthyism were both times in America’s past that irrational fear led to paranoia and mass hysteria. Both of these events were practices of accusing someone of either being a witch or of having communist ties, with no substantially justified evidence. Arthur Miller demonstrates this success with his play,…