-born in Harlem, New York City on October 17, 1915
-middle child
-his father, Isidore, owned a successful coat manufacturing business
-his mother, Augusta, was a book worm and teacher
-had a close relationship with his mom because of the music and books that she kept in their house
-was fully Jewish, giving him a sense of security with his ethnicity, was shown in his works
-1929 -- his family lost everything in the Wall Street Crash, causing them to move from Manhattan to Flatbush, Brooklyn
-got his high school diploma and had multiple jobs to pay for college

-went the University of Michigan and majored in theater, where he wrote his first play "No Villain"
-also won the school's Avery Hopwood award
-he mainly used his family members as characters in his plays
-graduated from Michigan
-moved back to New York to work on becoming a playwright

-this is a project that was created for writers who had been affected by the Great Depression
-allowing them to make $22.77 a week
-during this time he turned down a job opportunity from Twentieth Century Fox who was offering him $250 a week
-he thought that it was too controlled and wanted to stay in the theater because there was more freedom for him to express his ideas and create a story
-however the project was soon shut down because of the suspicion of communism

-definition of Communism directly from britannica Encyclopaedia
*the political and economic doctrine that aims to replace private property and a profit-based economy with public ownership and communal control of at least the major means of production and the natural resources of a society"
-a form of socialism

-originally was Jewish but then this belief led to atheism
-discussed his view of antisemitism where some cases come from Christians who believe Jewish people are disbelievers because they do not believe Christ was the Son of God
-he talked about the relationship between religion and patriotism in American politics and how it also related to the wars and how they are a mixture of nationalism and religious beliefs
-he didn't believe in the afterlife except
-however he believed that people are remembered by the material possesssions that they leave behind

-picture is of Joseph McCarthy
-definition of McCarthyism-- a period of time where Joseph McCarthy set up investigations to expose communist ideas that were in the US government in the 1950s
*searched for communists by working with and using the CIA
-was convicted for contempt of congress because he refused to give the names of Communist writers

-known as one of the greatest playwrights in America
-his general themes of his plays included
*guilt, disillusionment, corruption, and compliance

-depressing
-full of sadness and false perception
-his first major play
-it won many awards
-was popular
-was on broadway for about a year

-was considered controversial at the time
-it won many awards and was very popular
-themes included: intolerance, hysteria, and reputation

Tony Award for Best Play
-The Crucible -- 1953
-Death of a Salesman -- 1949

Pulitzer Prize for Drama
Death of a Salesman -- 1949

Tony Award for Best Author
-Death of a Salesman -- 1949
-All My Sons -- 1947

Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement -- 1999

Prime time Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series, Movie, or Dramatic Special 1981 -- Playing for Times

Prime time Emmy Award for Special Classification of Individual Achievements
-Death of a Salesman -- 1967

-The House Un-American Activities Committee
*HUAC
-created in 1938
-ran for almost 40 years
-created to investigate alleged disloyalty and subversive activities on the part of private citizens, public employees, and those organizations suspected of having Communist ties
-paid special attention to the motion picture industry
-it was believed to harbor a large number of people who were holding communist loyalties
-Martin Dies was the person who set the pattern for the committee's anti-communist investigations

-1969 HUAC experienced a decline in their influence
-leading them to announce a new focus, domestic terrorism
-It then received a new name, the House Internal Security committee
-6 years later when the Vietnam War was ending, the full House abolished the committee

-Miller decided to give the names of former members of the American Communist Partyto the House of Un-American activities committee
-his actions broke his relationship with Elia Kazan, one of this former friends
-Miller was later blacklisted by Hollywood when he refused to testify in front of the HUAC in 1957
-his conviction of contempt by congress relates to an investigation last year by the HUAC into a communist conspiracy to the misuse of American passports
-his conviction was later revered by the Spreme court