A Response to McCarthyism
Lawrence and Lee use Inherit the Wind as a metaphor for censorship or thought control; the play is their response to McCarthyism. Although the basis of the play is a historical event. the playwrights are not referring only to the Scopes trial (1925), the Butler Law, and the creationism-evolutionism conflict. They are also referring to the McCarthy era (the late 1940s and 1950s). Inherit the Wind was first published and produced in 1955, when blacklisting and, sometimes, imprisonment of Americans suspected of being members of the Communist party were at their height.
Wisconsin Senator Joseph R. McCarthy led an effort to identify Communists, who, he claimed, had infiltrated the federal government by the hundreds. During this period, the U.S. House of Representatives formed the Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), in front of which American citizens were subpoenaed and forced to testify against or identify Communists. Because of their influence over American values, many people from the entertainment industry were called to testify, and several who were suspected of having connections to communism were blacklisted (denied employment because of their “unacceptable” opinions).
