“Have you no decency?”
This question of conscience brought McCarthy down.
“Have you no decency?”
The question rocked the world. With just a few words, it was large enough to hold years of anguish and serve as an accusation, an indictment, and a plea. It marked a turning point in Senator Joseph McCarthy’s callous, cruel, and undemocratic campaign to root out alleged Communists in the press and the federal government, including the State Department, the U.S. Army, and the Government Printing Office, targeting federal employees, union workers, intellectuals, Hollywood artists and others.
Five months after this question was asked, the Senate voted to censure McCarthy by a vote of 67–22.
This question of conscience feels particularly apt these days.
Longing for more people, particularly those in power, to ask such a question made me to want to know more about what prompted it. Who gave voice to the question that spoke for so many in the country? What compelled them to speak?
As I looked into it, I realized that while I have long been aware of its significance, I was hazy on the details – and the details mattered. I had assumed it was a case of someone finally boiling over after years of McCarthy’s destructive crusade, or that it was part of someone’s prepared remarks. While the impact of McCarthy’s words and actions set the stage for it, I was surprised to learn that the cause of the outburst, the final straw, was personal.
Perhaps that’s what made it so powerful. It was not planned or calculated. It was a sincere, human, and heartfelt response – which gave voice to the pain and outrage people had felt over years of unchecked abuse and overreach.
The Context
It turns out that Joseph Nye Welch asked the pivotal question. Welch was a Boston lawyer hired by the Army to challenge McCarthy’s accusations that the Army had been lax in hiring personnel at one of its top-secret facilities. The Army denied his charges and countered that McCarthy had sought special treatment for one of his former staff members. McCarthy’s actions became the subject of the Special Senate Investigation on Charges and Countercharges. These investigations were known as the Army McCarthy Hearings and were broadcast on national TV.
On the 30th day of the Hearings, Welch asked Roy Cohn, (a lawyer, McCarthy’s co-conspirator, and an early mentor of Donald Trump), to provide McCarthy’s list of alleged communists or subversives in defense plants. To sidetrack this line of questioning, McCarthy stepped in and challenged Welch about the affiliation of a lawyer in Welch’s law office, calling the lawyer out by name.
It was here that McCarthy went too far. Welch responded.
“Until this moment, Senator, I think I have never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness. Fred Fisher is a young man who went to the Harvard Law School and came into my firm and is starting what looks to be a brilliant career with us. ... Little did I dream you could be so reckless and so cruel as to do an injury to that lad. It is true he is still with Hale and Dorr. It is true that he will continue to be with Hale and Dorr. It is, I regret to say, equally true that I fear he shall always bear a scar needlessly inflicted by you. If it were in my power to forgive you for your reckless cruelty, I would do so. I like to think I am a gentleman, but your forgiveness will have to come from someone other than me.”
When McCarthy tried to renew his attack, Welch interrupted him:
“Senator, may we not drop this? We know he belonged to the Lawyers Guild ... Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator. You've done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?”
McCarthy tried to ask Welch another question about Fisher, and Welch interrupted:
“Mr. McCarthy, I will not discuss this further with you. You have sat within six feet of me and could have asked me about Fred Fisher. You have seen fit to bring it out. And if there is a God in Heaven, it will do neither you nor your cause any good. I will not discuss it further. I will not ask Mr. Cohn any more witnesses. You, Mr. Chairman, may, if you will, call the next witness.”
At that point, the gallery erupted in applause and a recess was called.[1]
Some are uncomfortable comparing the current administration and what we’re experiencing to the early days of Nazi Germany or other authoritarian regimes, feeling that it is going too far. However you feel about that, this is an example from our own country that shows how a rogue senator and others in power exploited and manipulated our democratic structures and procedures to carry out actions that hurt the people of this country and weakened our democracy.
It is also an example of how someone can make a difference by saying what needs to be said. It is both a cautionary tale and one of hope.
What’s Your Story?
Joseph Welch called out McCarthy enabling others to find the courage to stand up and do what they must do. What can enable us – and those around us – to step up and speak out?
As with Welch, the intensity of our response to something we abhor often comes down to the personal. When we know someone who has been impacted, when it is someone we identify with, when it someone we empathize with – our anguish, our outrage, our anger rises to the top and we are moved to speak and act.
Consider sending in a short reflection (up to 250 words) on a question, a quote, even a poster or sign – that speaks to you as “Have you no decency?” once spoke for so many.
What’s the point of writing? When we share our stories about what moves us, about who and what we care about, we can touch and connect with others - even those on the “other side.” In doing so, we can help to build bridges we can one day cross to meet and reach out to others - and begin to heal.
We will post your story here on this Substack and the Building Bridges Word by Word website. To get started, check out the guidelines and next steps in the button below. Questions? Email us at mscribner.buildingbridgeswbw@gmail.com. We look forward to hearing from you!
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_N._Welch
Keep going in peace and love dear one, and yes still speaking Truth in love to evil…that evil may be transformed.
Brava, Megan!