Greetings. I am a voting constituent in rural west Texas.
Senator Margaret Chase Smith on the rise of McCarthyism to stoke fear in quest of power.
“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. I speak as a Republican, I speak as a woman. I speak as a United States senator. I speak as an American.”
Referring to Sen. McCarthy. “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.”
“Americans have the right to criticize, to hold unpopular beliefs, to protest, and to think for themselves.” But attacks that cost people their reputations and jobs were stifling these basic American principles. “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.”
Sen. Smith wanted Republican victory in upcoming elections, but to replace a Democratic administration with a Republican one “that lacks political integrity or intellectual honesty would prove equally disastrous to this nation.”
“I do not 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 do so, simply because I do not believe the American people will uphold any political party that puts political exploitation above national interest. Surely we Republicans are not that desperate for victory.”
“I do not 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 an American, I condemn a Republican Fascist just as much as I condemn a Democrat 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 high time that we all stopped being tools and victims of totalitarian techniques—techniques that, if continued here unchecked, will surely end what we have come to cherish as the American way of life.”
There were two reactions to her Senate speech within the party. McCarthy sneered. Others quietly applauded Smith’s courage but refused to show it themselves with public support.
But she was right. Four years later, the Senate condemned McCarthy. And while Senator Smith was later awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, McCarthy has gone down in history as a disgrace to the Senate and America.
GOP history is repeating. Will anyone listen?
