In 1954 Sen. Joseph McCarthy (R-Wisc.) was on a one man crusade to ferret out perceived Communists from the government. He had zeroed in on an Army dentist at Fort Monmouth N.J. who allegedly had connections to Communist sympathizers. As the issue heated up his committee summoned the Secretary of the Army to the witness stand where he was roughed up by McCarthy. Pres. Eisenhower was furious but he kept out of sight. The Army engaged a civilian counsel led by a courtly gentleman from Boston named Joseph N. Welch. McCarthy segued away from the dentist briefly to personally attack a young staffer in Welch's Boston legal firm who had earlier belonged to a lawyers guild with alleged "pink" associations. McCarthy named the young man at this televised hearing and kept up his personal attack.
Finally, the dignified Joseph Welch could take no more and he rebuked the Senator thusly - "Senator, until now I didn't realize the extent of your cruelty and recklessness. Have you no sense of decency, Sir, at long last?" Welch had punctured McCarthy's ballooon and the hearing room broke out in applause. It also took the steam out of his Red hunting, his health began to fail and he died three years later. This was riveting theater and You Tube has an two minute video titled Joseph McCarthy vs. Joseph Welch which is worth seeing as it recaptures the atmosphere in Washington at that time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MO2iiovYq70&feature=related
tjs
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