Back in the 1950's during the
Red Scare in the US, Senator
Joseph McCarthy managed to whip up a frenzy of public fear that there were
Communists working in the US government. Although it's legal to be one and work for the government, McCarthy made the claim that there were a great deal of them clandestinely working to
overthrow the United States' government. He made claims that there were subversives in the State Department, and cited various documents which he said backed up his assertions.
McCarthy's allegations caused a widespread fear among many Americans. To make a long story short, the Senate began a campaign of investigating people, and McCarthy's commission managed to ruin many people's lives by blacklisting suspected Communists. The House Un-American Activities Committee was responsible for blacklisting hundreds of people.
Initially, McCarthy had many supporters, anyone who criticized him risked being branded a communist as well, or a communist sympathizer. Maine Senator Margaret Chase Smith was initially impressed with McCarthy's accusations, and refused to side with those senators who took issue with him. "It looked as if Joe was onto something disturbing and frightening," she remarked. However, she later asked to see the documents that McCarthy was using as his evidence. She went through them all, and concluded that they really held little relevance to the wide claims he was making. It started to make her uncomfortable, and questioned the "validity, accuracy, credibility, and fairness" of his charges. She realized, astutely, that McCarthy's efforts were making a political climate of fear in Washington.
Smith felt reluctant to take a stand, despite her feelings. Perhaps it was because she was the only woman in the Senate, or because McCarthy's tactics intimidated all those who questioned him. However, her friends in the media, including a prominent newspaper columnist Walter Lippman, encouraged her to take a stand. She and her administrative assistant William Lewis began drafting a speech for her to read, known today as the "Declaration of Conscience." She circulated the draft among a half dozen other liberal Republicans who agreed to endorse it.
As Smith headed to the US Senate chamber on June 1, 1950, she encountered Senator McCarthy at the subway to the Capitol. "Margaret, you look very serious," he said, "are you going to make a speech?" "Yes, and you will not like it," Smith replied. Knowing that Smith wanted the Republican vice presidential nonimination for the upcoming election in 1952, McCarthy rebutted, "Remember Margaret, I control Wisconsin's twenty-seven convention votes!" She took this as an not-so-subtle threat that he would block her chances. In the Senate Chamber, McCarthy sat two rows behind Smith. Her speech lasted just fifteen minutes.
Mr. President:
I would like to speak briefly and simply about a serious national condition. It is a national feeling of fear and frustration that could result in national suicide and the end of everything that we Americans hold dear. It is a condition that comes from the lack of effective leadership in either the Legislative Branch or the Executive Branch of our Government.
That leadership is so lacking that serious and responsible proposals are being made that national advisory commissions be appointed to provide such critically needed leadership.
I speak as briefly as possible because too much harm has already been done with irresponsible words of bitterness and selfish political opportunism. I speak as briefly as possible because the issue is too great to be obscured by eloquence. I speak simply and briefly in the hope that my words will be taken to heart.
I speak as a Republican. I speak as a woman. I speak as a United States Senator. I speak as an American.
The United States Senate has long enjoyed worldwide respect as the greatest deliberative body in the world. But recently that deliberative character has too often been debased to the level of a forum of hate and character assassination sheltered by the shield of congressional immunity.
It is ironical that we Senators can in debate in the Senate directly or indirectly, by any form of words, impute to any American who is not a Senator any conduct or motive unworthy or unbecoming an American—and without that non-Senator American having any legal redress against us—yet if we say the same thing in the Senate about our colleagues we can be stopped on the grounds of being out of order.
It is strange that we can verbally attack anyone else without restraint and with full protection and yet we hold ourselves above the same type of criticism here on the Senate Floor. Surely the United States Senate is big enough to take self-criticism and self-appraisal. Surely we should be able to take the same kind of character attacks that we “dish out” to outsiders.
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.
Whether it be a criminal prosecution in court or a character prosecution in the Senate, there is little practical distinction when the life of a person has been ruined.
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:
- The right to criticize;
- The right to hold unpopular beliefs;
- The right to protest;
- The right of independent thought.
The exercise of these rights should not cost one single American
citizen his reputation or his right to a livelihood nor should he be in danger of losing his reputation or
livelihood merely because he happens to know someone who holds unpopular beliefs. Who of us doesn’t? Otherwise none of us could call our souls our own. Otherwise
thought control would have set in.
The American people are sick and tired of being afraid to speak their minds lest they be politically smeared as “Communists” or “Fascists” by their opponents. Freedom of speech is not what it used to be in America. It has been so abused by some that it is not exercised by others.
The American people are sick and tired of seeing innocent people smeared and guilty people whitewashed. But there have been enough proved cases, such as the Amerasia case, the Hiss case, the Coplon case, the Gold case, to cause the nationwide distrust and strong suspicion that there may be something to the unproved, sensational accusations.
As a Republican, I say to my colleagues on this side of the aisle that the Republican Party faces a challenge today that is not unlike the challenge that it faced back in Lincoln’s day. The Republican Party so successfully met that challenge that it emerged from the Civil War as the champion of a united nation—in addition to being a Party that unrelentingly fought loose spending and loose programs.
Today our country is being psychologically divided by the confusion and the suspicions that are bred in the United States Senate to spread like cancerous tentacles of “know nothing, suspect everything” attitudes. Today we have a Democratic Administration that has developed a mania for loose spending and loose programs. History is repeating itself—and the Republican Party again has the opportunity to emerge as the champion of unity and prudence.
The record of the present Democratic Administration has provided us with sufficient campaign issues without the necessity of resorting to political smears. America is rapidly losing its position as leader of the world simply because the Democratic Administration has pitifully failed to provide effective leadership.
The Democratic Administration has completely confused the American people by its daily contradictory grave warnings and optimistic assurances--that show the people that our Democratic Administration has no idea of where it is going.
The Democratic Administration has greatly lost the confidence of the American people by its complacency to the threat of communism here at home and the leak of vital secrets to Russia though key officials of the Democratic Administration. There are enough proved cases to make this point without diluting our criticism with unproved charges.
Surely these are sufficient reasons to make it clear to the American people that it is time for a change and that a Republican victory is necessary to the security of this country. Surely it is clear that this nation will continue to suffer as long as it is governed by the present ineffective Democratic Administration.
Yet to displace it with a Republican regime embracing a philosophy that lacks political integrity or intellectual honesty would prove equally disastrous to this nation. The nation sorely needs a Republican victory. But I don’t want to see the Republican Party ride to political victory on the Four Horsemen of Calumny—Fear, Ignorance, Bigotry, and Smear.
I doubt if the Republican Party could—simply because I don’t believe the American people will uphold any political party that puts political exploitation above national interest. Surely we Republicans aren’t that desperate for victory.
I don’t want to see the Republican Party win that way. While it might be a fleeting victory for the Republican Party, it would be a more lasting defeat for the American people. Surely it would ultimately be suicide for the Republican Party and the two-party system that has protected our American liberties from the dictatorship of a one party system.
As members of the Minority Party, we do not have the primary authority to formulate the policy of our Government. But we do have the responsibility of rendering constructive criticism, of clarifying issues, of allaying fears by acting as responsible citizens.
As a woman, I wonder how the mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters feel about the way in which members of their families have been politically mangled in the Senate debate—and I use the word “debate” advisedly.
As a United States Senator, I am not proud of the way in which the Senate has been made a publicity platform for irresponsible sensationalism. I am not proud of the reckless abandon in which unproved charges have been hurled from the side of the aisle. I am not proud of the obviously staged, undignified countercharges that have been attempted in retaliation from the other side of the aisle.
I don’t like the way the Senate has been made a rendezvous for vilification, for selfish political gain at the sacrifice of individual reputations and national unity. I am not proud of the way we smear outsiders from the Floor of the Senate and hide behind the cloak of congressional immunity and still place ourselves beyond criticism on the Floor of the Senate.
As an American, I am shocked at the way Republicans and Democrats alike are playing directly into the Communist design of “confuse, divide, and conquer.” As an American, I don’t want a Democratic Administration “whitewash” or “cover-up” any more than a want a Republican smear or witch hunt.
As an American, I condemn a Republican “Fascist” just as much I condemn a Democratic “Communist.” I condemn a Democrat “Fascist” just as much as I condemn a Republican “Communist.” They are equally dangerous to you and me and to our country. As an American, I want to see our nation recapture the strength and unity it once had when we fought the enemy instead of ourselves.
It is with these thoughts that I have drafted what I call a “Declaration of Conscience.” I am gratified that Senator Tobey, Senator Aiken, Senator Morse, Senator Ives, Senator Thye, and Senator Hendrickson have concurred in that declaration and have authorized me to announce their concurrence.
After Smith finished, she expected McCarthy to respond, although she didn't mention him by name in the speech. Instead, he quietly left the chamber. A few senators followed up with praise of her remarks, but they were too afraid to add to the accusation. A subsequent poll, however, showed an eight-to-one approval for Smith's stand. Newspaper editorials endorsed her position, and numerous organizations awarded her recognition, citing her courageous stand in favor of civil liberties against the politics of fear. Soon after, the next time that President Harry Truman came to the Capitol for lunch, he invited Senator Smith to join him. He told her, "Mrs. Smith, your Declaration of Conscience was one of the finest things that has happened here in Washington in all my years in the Senate and the White House."
According to American Political Science experts, and the Senate's web site, this is one of the most memorable speeches ever given in the Senate, and you can find this speech in many Political Science textbooks.
Source:
http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/Speeches_Smith_Declaration.htm
http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/resources/pdf/SmithDeclaration.pdf