"Because it is my name!” Arthur Miller’s Moral Imperative, The Crucible and Miller’s HUAC Testimony

by Stefani Koorey, PhD
Through autobiography, essays, and interviews, Miller continued to endorse the analogy between the Salem Witch trials of 1692 and the political climate of the 1950s-particularly the activities of the House Committee on Un-American Activities and their forced contrition ritual of naming names as a means of proving loyalty by breaking with the past. His insistence on their connection further manifested as a broad boasting regarding his astute discovery of his play’s historical parallels in his autobiography Timebends, in 1987: “If I hadn’t written The Crucible that period would be unregistered in our literature, on any popular level. . . . So, therefore, when one says ‘It was in the air,’ I made it in the air. . . I nailed it to the historical wall.” With each revival of the play, reviewers and commentators again acknowledge the domestic political milieu surrounding Miller’s creation and his play’s allegorical tie to McCarthyism. Interestingly, Miller originally disavowed the thematic connection between the two events, skirting the issue by insisting that he was not forcing a contemporary parallel.
The Crucible opened on Broadway on January 22, 1953, during the height of McCarthyism, before the censure of Joseph McCarthy, before the truce in Korea, and before the Supreme Court began to reaffirm constitutional guarantees of free expression and due process. It is altogether possible that Miller felt his audience would not accept such outspoken criticism of the trials and investigations of domestic Communists currently being conducted. Perhaps with a reasoning similar to his decision to withdraw The Hook from production in 1950 when its political intentions were questioned, Miller again feared the attention of HUAC if he would too soon and too publicly admit to The Crucible’s critique on the irrationality and injustice of McCarthyism. Miller himself never commented on his hesitation, nor did he choose to directly address any issue regarding the seemingly ambiguous nature of his political and personal loyalties. It feels entirely appropriate, then, to extend his self-confessed analogy full-circle and connect the text of The Crucible to the text of Miller’s testimony before HUAC, with Miller himself as the enshrined masculine hero of this true-life scripted drama.

[@MKG37]

Thank you for your article in the latest issue of the Arthur Miller Journal. Planning to use it to teach The Crucible this summer!

[@americancommunist6076]

Solidarity to our old comrades who stood through this storm!

[@loliH9]

You're just proving McCarthy right...........
Which he was but you guys always claim he wasn't, so.

[@montanagal6958]

"I gave you my soul, let me keep my name".

[@kathrynemckissock7979]

This sounds a biased attack on Miller. :(

[@MayeMuses]

Hello, new friend! I see you have a new channel about New England history. I would love to interview you. What is your email?