It’s ironic that today – the day that the former President’s second impeachment trial begins in the Senate – is also the anniversary of Senator Joseph McCarthy’s 1950 speech in Wheeling, West Virginia when he declared in front of the Ohio’s County Republican Women’s Club that he possessed a list of more than 200 Communist Party members working in the U.S. Department of State.
The speech was the opening salvo in McCarthy’s hysterical campaign to convince Americans that individuals were working from inside the U.S. government to subvert its aims. Although in the end McCarthy was unable to produce any evidence to support these claims, he did great damage to the reputations and lives of many innocent Americans, gaining huge personal power and popularity in the process. (Read more about McCarthyism).
It’s impossible to think about McCarthy without also remembering the bravery of his Republican colleague in the Senate, Margaret Chase Smith of Maine. Although a member of McCarthy’s own party, Smith did not hesitate to speak out forcefully and with principle against McCarthy at the height of his power.
Smith was the first Senator to criticize McCarthy from the floor of the Senate, where she gave an impassioned speech against McCarthyism on 1 June, 1950. Entitled the “Declaration of Conscience,” the speech warned of the dangers she saw in McCarthy’s dishonest words and accusations.
Here’s an excerpt from Smith’s speech:
“I think that it is high time for the United States Senate and its members to do some soul-searching—for us to weigh our consciences—on the manner in which we are performing our duty to the people of America—on the manner in which we are using or abusing our individual powers and privileges.
I think that it is high time that we remembered that we have sworn to uphold and defend the Constitution. I think that it is high time that we remembered that the Constitution, as amended, speaks not only of the freedom of speech but also of trial by jury instead of trial by accusation…
Those of us who shout the loudest about Americanism in making character assassinations are all too frequently those who, by our own words and acts, ignore some of the basic principles of Americanism.”
Smith had a distinguish career in public service. She was a member of the Senate from 1949 until 1972, after serving in the House of Representatives from 1940-1948. She ran for President in 1964, and was the first woman to have her name placed in nomination for President at a major party national convention.
Listen to part of Smith’s “Declaration of Conscience” speech.
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