Army-McCarthy Hearings
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
The Army-McCarthy hearings (April 22 to June 17 1954) were a congressional inquiry convened to investigate a convoluted set of charges made by Senator Joseph R. McCarthy (Republican, Wisconsin), at the U.S. Army and vice versa.
The conflict originated when a consultant on McCarthy's staff named G. David Schine had been drafted into the Army. Roy M. Cohn, McCarthy's chief counsel, personally lobbied members of Army in order to gain preferential treatment for Private Schine. These failed attempts culminated with the Secretary of the Army, Robert T. Stevens, refusing to cancel an overseas assignment for Private Schine.
At the time, McCarthy was chairman of the Senate Committee on Government Operations and its Subcommittee on Investigations. McCarthy shifted the focus of this committee from eliminating wastage from the executive branch to continue his agenda of hunting for Communists. (Historians have since speculated that Schine and Cohn had a sexual relationship and that Cohn sought preferential treatment for his lover.)
The dispute became public on March 11, 1954, when the Army published a detailed account protesting Cohn's interference in Private Schine's military career. McCarthy countered by claiming the Army was holding Schine "hostage" to deter his committee from exposing communists within the military ranks
The Subcommittee on Investigations ordered the inquiry, allowing live television coverage. For the duration of the proceedings, the chair was temporarily relinquished to Karl E. Mundt (Republican, South Dakota). Acting as Special Counsel for the Army was Joseph N. Welch of the Boston law firm of Hale & Dorr.
Notably, this was the first nationally televised congressional inquiry, and was broadcast on the new ABC and DuMont networks.
The hearings are most remembered for the exchange that occurred on the afternoon of June 9 1954. McCarthy made a (true) allegation that a young lawyer of Welch's firm had been a member of the Lawyer's Guild (an organization with links to the Communist Party). This was in violation of a pre-hearing agreement not to raise the issue. Welch responded with the immortal speech that ultimately ended McCarthy's career:
- "Until this moment, senator, I think I never gauged your cruelty or recklessness. ..."
When McCarthy resumed his attack, Welch cut him short:
- "Let us not assassinate this lad further, senator... You have done enough. Have you no decency, sir? Have you, at last, no sense of decency?"
This exchange was witnessed by millions of television viewers, and within a short time McCarthy's massive popularity was decimated. A few months later, the Senate voted to censure him.
See also
- Communist Party of the United States
- House Committee on Un-American Activities
- Reactions to McCarthyism
- John Little McClellan
External links
- The Army-McCarthy Hearings (http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/A/htmlA/army-mccarthy/army-mccarthy.htm)
- McCarthy-Welch Exchange "Have You No Sense of Decency" (transcript and sound file) (http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/welch-mccarthy.html)
