Who is Danforth?

In "The Crucible," by Arthur Miller, Danforth is the Deputy Governor and, as such, is in overall charge of the witch trials that occur in Salem.

In the play, it is revealed that Danforth is somewhat lacking in character because he is willing to put the needs of the government ahead of the interests of justice.  He does this by refusing to free Proctor and others like him even though he has a great deal of evidence showing they are innocent.  His rationale is that releasing them will make the courts look bad because they had already executed people whose cases were similar.

So, in this way, Danforth shows the propensity of government officials to want to avoid making themselves and their agencies look bad, regardless of the consequences for others.