Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible in 1953 as an allegory for McCarthyism during the 1950s. The play dramatizes the Salem Witch Trials of 1692-1693, where many were accused of witchcraft. Miller used the historical event to criticize the ways in which the House Un-American Activities Committee interrogated and accused people of being communists without evidence during the Red Scare. The Puritan society in Salem that fueled the witch trials is similar to the climate of fear and suspicion created by Senator Joseph McCarthy's accusations of communist threats.