A Declaration of Conscience

In Protest of the McCarthy Hearings

Speech

By: Margaret Chase Smith

Date: June 1, 1950

Source: United States Senate. "Margaret Chase Smith: A Declaration of Conscience, June 1, 1950." <http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/Speeches_Smith_Declaration.htm> (accessed May 22, 2006).

About the Author: U.S. Congressperson Margaret Madeline Chase Smith (1897–1995), born in Skowhegan, Maine, represented her home state as a U.S. Representative (Maine's second district) for four terms (1939–1949). During World War II, she served on the House Naval Affairs Committee. Later, in 1949, Smith was elected as U.S. Senator (Maine), and she served in this capacity for twenty-four years (1949–1973). Smith was the first woman to serve in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. In both chambers, she played important roles in the nation's foreign policy and military affairs.

As a moderate Republican, Smith was publicly critical about extremes in both the Democratic and Republican parties. She is possibly best remembered for her strong opposition to the tactics of Senator Joseph R. McCarthy (1908–1957) in a campaign he orchestrated against Communist activity in the United States in the early 1950s—a campaign often called McCarthyism. On June 1, 1950, Smith gave her now-famous fifteen-minute "Declaration of Conscience" speech on the Senate floor to oppose the crusade of McCarthy. According to the Margaret Chase Smith Library, Smith later said of her accomplishments: "If I am to be remembered in history, it will not be because of legislative accomplishments, but for an act I took as a legislator in the U.S. Senate when on June 1, 1950, I spoke … in condemnation of McCarthyism, when the junior Senator from Wisconsin had the Senate paralyzed with fear that he would purge any Senator who disagreed with him."

In 1964, Smith became the first woman to become a presidential nominee of a major U.S. political party when she was nominated at the Republican National Convention. Smith received the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the American Spirit Award, the U.S. Air Force's premier award. In 1973, Smith was one of the original inductees into the National Women's Hall of Fame.

INTRODUCTION

Senator Joseph McCarthy first gained national attention on February 9, 1950, when he began a campaign against the foreign policy of President Harry Truman, which included charges that the State Department and its Secretary, Dean Acheson, had allowed U.S. citizens who were Communists to penetrate its organization. McCarthy implied that he possessed lists of people—within such groups as the federal government, the military, broadcast and defense industries, and universities and colleges— who were Communist conspirators. He garnered power through political manipulations to defeat several important Democrats for re-election to the Senate. His accusations scared many politicians and other leaders and prominent citizens who thought they might soon appear on his lists. Consequently, his critics usually did not challenge his statements. When he was challenged, however, the accused were usually unable to defend themselves against the allegations brought in front of the federal investigative body. As a result, they were often blacklisted, which ruined their professional careers and their personal reputations.

U.S. Senator Margaret Chase Smith thought initially that Senator McCarthy was bringing important attention to a disturbing problem within the federal government. However, upon further investigation of McCarthy's documents, she found little evidence to support his claims. Smith began to feel that McCarthy was unfair and inaccurate, and that his statements were not credible. At the same time, Smith saw an atmosphere of fear sweeping through the political community of Washington D.C. due to McCarthy's actions. To counter McCarthy's campaign and to oppose his tactics, Smith delivered a speech called "Declaration of Conscience." In the speech, Smith (along with support from six other Republican senators) voiced her concern over the lack of national leadership in the United States, within both the Republican and Democratic political parties. She also expressed her concern that any citizen could be classified as a Communist or Fascist simply by expressing basic beliefs that ran counter to those of certain people in political power. Without mentioning his name, Smith implicated McCarthy for using what she thought were dishonest and immoral tactics.

PRIMARY SOURCE

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.

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 do not 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.

It is with these thoughts that I have drafted what I call a Declaration of Conscience. I am gratified that the senator from New Hampshire [Mr. Tobey], the senator from Vermont [Mr. Aiken], the senator from Oregon [Mr. Morse], the senator from New York [Mr. Ives], the senator from Minnesota [Mr. Thye], and the senator from New Jersey [Mr. Hendrickson] have concurred in that declaration and have authorized me to announce their concurrence.

SIGNIFICANCE

Senator Margaret Chase Smith's "A Declaration of Conscience" was the first speech by a politician to criticize and challenge McCarthy. A few senators applauded Smith's speech, but the vast majority silenced their comments and opinions, fearing McCarthy's wrath. Smith's words angered McCarthy. However, the public expressed its enthusiastic support for Smith, as did many newspapers and civil liberties organizations.

Over the next four years, Smith, along with others, felt McCarthy's vengeance. Although against Senate tradition, McCarthy removed Smith immediately from an investigation committee. McCarthy also accused various political officials of subversive activities. His accusations came to a head on April 22, 1954. At this time, the Senate began to investigate McCarthy's accusations that the U.S. Army and the secretary of the Army were guilty of wrongdoing, including withholding information on foreign espionage activities, and counter-charges made by Army leaders accusing McCarthy and his staff of threatening army officials. For six weeks the hearings were shown on live television. These hearings, which became known as the Army-McCarthy hearings, were the first nationally televised congressional inquiry. They are now considered a milestone merger between television and U.S. politics.

Around this same time, McCarthy sponsored a challenger to Smith's senate seat when she ran for re-election. However, Maine voters rejected McCarthy's efforts, and soundly re-elected Smith. Although McCarthy clashed with Smith, she still was appointed to two important Senate committees: Armed Services and Appropriations.

On June 17, 1954, McCarthy was cleared of the charges leveled at him during the Senate hearings, but he received a massive amount of unfavorable press as a result of the televised proceedings. On December 2, 1954, Smith voted with a majority of other senators to approve a resolution condemning Senator McCarthy. In the end, McCarthy was censured for the under-handed tactics that he used in his investigations and for the abuses that he inflicted upon senators and members of Senate committees. His political influence quickly diminished in the Senate and throughout the United States, but McCarthy remained a member of the Senate until his death in 1957.

Although it did not produce an immediate reaction, Margaret Chase Smith's speech to members of the Senate helped to end McCarthy's political influence and his anti-Communist campaign. The speech also brought Smith to the attention of the nation, showing the American people her courage, independence, and, most importantly, her commitment to justice. According to the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center, Smith concluded the saga of McCarthyism with her statement: "My creed is that public service must be more than doing a job efficiently and honestly. It must be a complete dedication to the people and to the nation with full recognition that every human being is entitled to courtesy and consideration, that constructive criticism is not only to be expected but sought, that smears are not only to be expected but fought, that honor is to be earned but not bought."

FURTHER RESOURCES

Books

Herman, Arthur. Joseph McCarthy: Reexamining the Life andLegacy of America's Most Hated Senator. New York: Free Press, 2000.

Lewis, William C., Jr., ed. Margaret Chase Smith: Declaration of Conscience. (American National Biography, Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives.) New York: Doubleday, 1972.

Morgan, Ted. Reds: McCarthyism in Twentieth-century America. New York: Random House, 2003.

Sherman, Janann. No Place for a Woman: A Life of SenatorMargaret Chase Smith. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 2000.

Wallace, Patricia Ward. Politics of Conscience: A Biography ofMargaret Chase Smith. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 1995.

Web sites

Margaret Chase Smith Library. "Expanded Biography." <http://www.mcslibrary.org/bio/biolong.htm> (accessed May 16, 2006).

Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center, The University of Maine. "Biography: Margaret Chase Smith (1897–1995)." <http://www.umaine.edu/mcsc/AboutUs/Bio.htm> (accessed May 22, 2006).