Transcript Slide 1

Drama and Allegory
The Rise of Communism
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First Red Scare – 1917-1920
 Russian Revolution - 1919
 People accused/jailed with little or no evidence
1939 WWII – Russia, ally to USA
 Alien Registration Act – 1940
 Second Red Scare – 1947
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 Spread of Communism to Eastern Europe
 Iron Curtain / Cold War
In 1949, Mao Zedong took power in China
 Western Europe became increasingly
Communist…especially Italy
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From Stettin in the Baltic to
Trieste in the Adriatic an "iron
curtain" has descended
across the Continent. Behind
that line lie all the capitals of
the ancient states of Central
and Eastern Europe. Warsaw,
Berlin, Prague, Vienna,
Budapest, Belgrade,
Bucharest and Sofia; all these
famous cities and the
populations around them lie in
what I must call the Soviet
sphere, and all are subject, in
one form or another, not only
to Soviet influence but to a
very high and in some cases
increasing measure of control
from Moscow.
- Winston Churchill
The Iron Curtain
The Spread Of Communism
Eastern European countries under control
of the Soviet Union
 Estonia
 Latvia
 Lithuania
 Russia
 Byelorussia
 Ukraine
 Moldavia
 East Germany / East Berlin
 Poland
 Czechoslovakia
 Hungary
 Yugoslavia
 Albania
 Bulgaria
With Communism spreading, there was
fear that it would spread to America as
well.
Joseph
McCarthy
American politician who served as a
Republican U.S. Senator from the state
of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death
in 1957.
February 9, 1950, when he gave a
Lincoln Day speech to the Republican
Women's Club of Wheeling, West Virginia.
"The State Department is infested with
communists. I have here in my hand a list
of 205—a list of names that were made
known to the Secretary of State as being
members of the Communist Party and
who nevertheless are still working and
shaping policy in the State Department.“
December 2, 1954, the Senate voted to
censure him, making him one of the few
senators ever to be disciplined in this
fashion.
McCarthy Hearings
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The Army–McCarthy hearings were a series of
hearings held by the US Senate's Subcommittee on
Investigations between March and June 1954. The
hearings were held for the purpose of investigating
conflicting accusations between the Army and McCarthy
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The Senate decided that these conflicting charges should
be investigated
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In all, 395 executive session witnesses and 214 public
session witnesses were examined. Ninety-eight witnesses
were called before the Army–McCarthy hearings in
executive session, including Cohn himself, while 44 were
called for public testimony.
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Later seen as a modern day witch hunt.
“Why I Wrote The Crucible”
- Arthur Miller
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The State Dept. hounded and fired officers who
knew China, its language, and its culture.
Alien conspiracies dominated political discourse.
Paralysis of liberals who were fearful of being
identified as Communists.
House Committee on Un-American Activities
reached Hollywood and unleashed holy terror on
actors, directors, writers.
Head of Columbia Pictures sent Miller’s
screenplay “The Hook” to the F.B.I.
 Wanted to change the gangsters to Communists.
Why I Wrote…cont.
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American thinking was “becoming so magical, so
paranoid….I lacked the tools to illuminate
miasma.” (a dangerous, foreboding, or deathlike atmosphere)
Miller kept being drawn by the 1950’s hearings
and by Salem witch trials which he began reading
about at this time.
Read Mayor Upham’s 2 volume, thousand page
account of Salem witch trials.
Read transcripts of witchcraft trials of 1692.
Miller’s marriage was falling apart, like John
Proctor’s…saw connection.
Proctor trying to overcome his paralyzing guilt
reassured and inspired Miller.
The Crucible
One of the most heavily
demanded trade-fiction
paperbacks
 Over 6 million sold
 Has been onstage for 40 +
years…somewhere.
 Starts getting produced
whenever a political coup
appears imminent or a
dictatorial regime has just
been overthrown
 From Argentina to Chile to
Greece to Czechoslovakia
and China….etc…
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The Witch Trials
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In 1692 girls started
exhibiting bizarre
behavior
This was attributed to
being ‘bewitched’ by other
people
The Salem interrogations
turned out to be eerily
exact models of those yet
to come in Stalin's
Russia, Pinochet's Chile,
Mao's China, and other
abusive regimes.
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Wrote: “The Minister’s Black Veil”
“Young Goodman Brown”
Was related to the Judge Hathorne
in The Crucible. Wanted to
distance himself from all the events
of 1692.
Changed the spelling of his name
as well as the pronunciation.
Wrote in the American
Romanticism period , often about
the Puritans
The Puritans
Came to America to escape
persecution and to “purify” the
Church of England.
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Their interpretation of
scriptures was a harsh one.
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They emphasized a
redemptive piety.
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In principle, they
emphasized conversion
and not repression.
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Conversion was a rejection of
the "worldliness" of society
and a strict adherence to
Biblical principles.
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While repression was not
encouraged in principle, it
was evident in their actions.
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God could forgive anything,
but man could forgive only
by seeing a change in
behavior.
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Actions spoke louder than
words, so actions had to be
constantly controlled.
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Doctrine of Predestination
 kept all Puritans constantly
working to do good in this life
to be chosen for the next
eternal one
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God had already chosen who
would be in heaven or hell
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The wealthy were blessed by God
and were in good standing with
Him
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The Protestant work ethic was
the belief that hard work was an
honor to God which would lead
to a prosperous reward.
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Any deviations from the normal
way of Puritan life met with strict
disapproval and discipline.
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There was no margin for error.
Puritans p2