In 1692, a group of girls living in Salem, Massachusetts became ill. Suffering from seizures and hallucinations, in extremely religious Puritan New England, the only cause seemed to be the work of the devil or his minions. The illness sparked fears of witchcraft, and it was only a matter of time before not only the girls, but many other residents of Salem, began accusing other villagers of conspiring with the devil and resorting to to black magic. In August 1962, nineteen people were executed by the heavily religiously influenced Massachusetts government and justice system. This series of events later became known as the "Salem Witch Trials." In the early 1950s, Arthur Miller, who became a national sensation with Death of a Salesman, composed The Crucible, which was directly inspired by the witch hunt of 1692. At the same time, the rise of Senator McCarthy, whose opinions and accusations Venomous anticommunism pushed the United States into a theatrical and sensitive anti-red state during the tense early years of the Cold War. When The Crucible was first performed, in 1953, many saw it as a direct attack on McCarthyism, the politics of communist sniffing in the same way that the "witches" of 1692 were discovered. Favorite targets on McCarthy's radar were writers and artists. Through highly controversial, evidence-free investigations designed to weed out communist sympathizers in the United States, suspect parties were told that if they wanted to escape punishment, they would have to confess and identify other communist sympathizers. This structure led to an overflow of accusations, exacerbating hysteria, and the blacklisting of three hundred and twenty promising careers. There are plenty of them sitting...in the middle of the paper...and say, no real witches or devil worshipers in Salem, and there were certainly communist spies, including Julius Rosenberg and Alger Hiss. These adored victims of McCarthyism at the time turned out to be less innocent than those of the Salem witch trials, like Rebecca Nurse or John Proctor. Miller was not interested in one man's acquiescence and his calculated, dramatic attacks on an idea, but rather the American people themselves. They began to revel in the fear that was used to rule their minds, causing them to abandon the virtues of loyalty and honesty. This key theme doesn't just apply to the narrow field of McCarthyism, and it's what makes The Crucible an excellent example of a well-written American drama. Bowers, Kristen. The Crucible by Arthur Miller: Literary Guide. San Dimas, CA: Secondary Solutions, 2006. Print.