Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible in 1952. World War II had just ended in 1945, and it was when the United States was becoming increasingly concerned about the rising power of the Soviet Union. Paranoia was growing inside the government. Worries that the Soviet Union's communist ways would infiltrate the United States led to paranoia within the American government, and Hollywood was becoming a target for Joe McCarthy. This article in The New Yorker appeared on October 21, 1996, P. 158.
Arthur Miller was inspired to write a drama reflecting the mass cultural and political hysteria produced when the U.S. government sought to suppress Communism and radical leftist activity in America.
"LIFE AND LETTERS about the inspiration for and influence of Miller's play, "The Crucible," a reflection of the Communist witch-hunts of its time. Miller recalled the source of his creation while watching the filming of the new movie "The Crucible." When he wrote it, Senator Joseph McCarthy and the House Committee on Un-American Activities were prosecuting alleged Communists from the State Department to Hollywood; the Red hunt was becoming the dominant fixation of the American psyche. Miller did not know how to deal with the enormities of the situation in a play. "The Crucible" was an act of desperation; Miller was fearful of being identified as a covert Communist if he should protest too strongly. He could not find a point of moral reference in contemporary society. Miller found his subject while reading Charles W. Upham's 1867 two-volume study of the 1692 Salem witch trials, which shed light on the personal relationships behind the trials. Miller went to Salem in 1952 and read transcripts. He began reconstructing the relationship between John and Elizabeth Proctor and Abigail Williams, who would become the central characters in "The Crucible." He related to John Proctor, who was able to fight the madness around him despite an imperfect character. The Salem court had moved to admit "spectral evidence" as proof of guilt; as in 1952, the question was not the acts of an accused but his thoughts and intentions."
The more information we have, the better it is to answer the question: Why did This Play at That Time?