Brinksmanship: Committee on Un-American Activities

http://CNN.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/episodes/06/game/

Description: You are a Hollywood screenwriter. It is 1947, and you have just been called before the House Un-American Activities Committee to testify about communism in Hollywood. You know some colleagues who were supportive of the Communists in the Spanish Civil War. What will you say? Standard 11.9.3

Author: CNN Cold War Series

Lesson ID: 160

Crucible, The: Miller v. McCarthy

http://oncampus.richmond.edu/academics/education/projects/webquests/crucible/

Description: World War II is over, and the new enemy is communism. Communist spies have infiltrated every level of the government. Senator Joseph McCarthy claims to have a list of 205 communists in the State Department alone. Does this description of America in the 1950's remind you of another time in American history? It reminded playwright Arthur Miller of the Salem Witchcraft Trials in 1693, and it inspired him to write The Crucible. He wanted to illustrate how dangerous it was to let the words and suspicions of a few people destroy the lives of so many. In this WebQuest, you will be asked to consider the connections between The Crucible and McCarthyism. You will be asked to examine the characters from the play to see how they reflect the 1950's. Most importantly, you must think about whether the the fears of the American public during this time were justified. Standard 11.9.3

Author: Leslee Wallace and Julie Kimmel, University of Richmond

Lesson ID: 1403

Kazan, Miller, and the McCarthy Era

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/education/lesson30_overview.html

Description: Although director Elia Kazan won an Oscar for Lifetime Achievement at the 1999 Academy Awards, his career and reputation have remained clouded by his 1952 decision to "name names" before the House Un-American Activities Committee. Kazan's testimony not only diminished his reputation; it also led to a personal and artistic rupture with good friend and playwright Arthur Miller. In this set of learning activities, students will use the Miller-Kazan story as an introduction to the McCarthy era, one of the darkest times in America's cultural history By studying the Miller-Kazan relationship, students will also explore the political ramifications of censorship. After conducting research, students will present their information in an "exhibition" that showcases what they have learned about the Hollywood Blacklist and discrimination in America. Students will also perform several acts of The Crucible, an allegorical re-telling of the McCarthy era, using a reading strategy called Reader's Theater. They will then write a brief allegorical script that explores their own experience of discrimination. Standard 11.9.3

Author: Anna Chan Rekate, Trevor Day School in New York City

Lesson ID: 617

Telegram from Senator Joseph McCarthy to President Harry S. Truman

http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/mccarthy-telegram/

Description: Using the telegram from Joesph McCarthy to Harry Truman as a starting point, research and discuss the McCarthy Hearings and their impact. Find out how McCarthy's influence was finally curtailed under President Eisenhower and the Constitutional powers he used to do so. Standard 11.9.3

Author: Tom Gray, DeRuyter Central Middle School, DeRuyter, NY

Lesson ID: 1008