(The conviction was overturned in 1958.) A theater critic at the time said that Miller’s refusal to cooperate showed “the measure of the man who has written these high-minded plays.” The result? He was convicted of contempt of Congress.
Miller stood his ground, held to his principles, and pretty much risked his career by refusing to name names. Just as other Americans had been subpoenaed, Miller, too, was asked to identify writers who he believed were communists. You see, by the mid-1950s, Miller was famous not only for his plays, but also for when he was called to appear before Senator Joseph McCarthy’s House Un-American Activities Committee. And there is one more thread-all are based on real-life events that were either personal or political or both. While their stories may be different, there are common threads among them, including morality, responsibility, compassion, and the fragility of human relationships-especially between fathers and sons. Between 19, Broadway played host to All My Sons, Death of a Salesman, The Crucible, A View From the Bridge, and After the Fall. Miller wrote his most successful plays early in his career. Miller revealed, "I think the tragic feeling is evoked in us when we are in the presence of a character who is ready to lay down his life, if need be, to secure one thing-his sense of personal dignity." It’s clear that the Depression and the after-effects of World War II influenced Miller to write plays about vulnerable, everyday people-working and struggling to get ahead.
After working his way through high school and college, a young Miller learned first-hand how hard it could be to make a living in tough times. His father lost his clothing business during the Wall Street Crash and the family had to move to a smaller house in Brooklyn. By the time he was a teenager, his family-like many others-was struggling through the Great Depression. Arthur Miller was born in New York City in 1915.
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