On December 2, 1954, Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin was condemned by the Senate for "conduct that tends to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute." Senator McCarthy had made a name for himself by arguing that there were communists within the State department and various branches of the federal government. On February 9, 1950, he gave a speech to the Republican Women’s Club of Wheeling, West Virginia in which he held up a piece of paper and claimed it contained a list of known Communists working for the State Department. No audio recording survived of this meeting, so there is some dispute as to whether he said the list had 205 or 57 names. Either way, the press picked up the story and his “Wheeling speech” helped to propel him to greater fame.
While a member of the senate, McCarthy led committee investigations trying to rout out communism within the government. For the most part, he ended up isolating himself from the other senators (including those in his own party) and not providing much evidence for his claims. While the public may have entertained some of his claims out of fear, public opinion began to turn against him in 1954. The Journalist Edward R. Murrow ran two programs that were very critical of McCarthy and his message. In the conclusion of the first program, Murrow offered a strong rebuke to McCarthy and McCarthyism:
His primary achievement has been in confusing the public mind, as between the internal and the external threats of Communism. We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law. We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men.
The Senate also began investigating McCarthy and called some of his actions into question. In the Army-McCarthy hearings, the Senate investigated to see whether McCarthy and his chief counsel, Roy Cohn, had pressured the army to favor a friend of Cohn’s serving as a private. In the course of the hearings, McCarthy had a famous exchange with Joseph Nye Welch, the army’s chief legal representative. Welch challenged Cohn to provide a list of names of communist sympathizers in defense plants “before the sun goes down.” Before Cohn could answer, McCarthy stepped in and told Welch if he was so concerned about the identities of those aiding the communist party, then he should check his own firm. He then accused Fred Fisher, a man in Welch’s firm of being a member of the National Lawyers Guild, which McCarthy said was sympathetic to communists. This led Welch to make an impassioned defense of Fisher and a strong rebuke of McCarthy asking, “have you no decency sir?”. The video of the exchange is posted below (cut into two parts).
Public opinion continued to turn against McCarthy and the Senate voted to condemn him on December 2, 1954, which effectively ended his political career. President Eisenhower was pleased to see the demise of McCarthy, as he had been a longtime opponent of his methods. He is said to have remarked to his aides, “McCarthyism is now McCarthywasm.”
[Image via tufts, wisconsinhistory, gordspoetryfactory]
On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat in the front section of a bus to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama. This was an age in which segregation was the watchword of the south. Under the guise of “separate but equal,” blacks and whites were expected to use separate restrooms, buses, and lunch counters while attending different schools. By refusing to forfeit her seat to a white man, Rosa Parks helped set off a bus boycott that helped to fuel the civil rights movement of the late 1950s, 1960s and beyond. Dr. Martin Luther King led the bus boycott that protested racial segregation through non-violent means. The Montgomery Bus Boycott began four days after Rosa Park’s arrest and lasted for 381 days. As a result of their non-violent actions, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks have taken their place in the pantheon of American advocates for not only human equality, but human dignity as well.
In 1987, Rosa Parks founded the Rosa & Raymond Institute for Self Development which is devoted to motivating the youth to reach their highest potential. Even though she passed away in 2005, her work lives on through her foundation and in the lives of those she has inspired.
[Image via disarminginjustice and 37days]
Today would have been Mark Twain’s 174th birthday. Born on November 30, 1835 in Florida, Missouri, Samuel Clemens, known to the world as Mark Twain, is widely considered one of the greatest American authors. Besides his talents as a writer, Mark Twain is also known for his wit. In a letter to Edward Dimmitt written on July 19, 1901,Twain said of aging, “Life should begin with age and its privileges and accumulations, and end with youth and its capacity to splendidly enjoy such advantages.” Mark Twain lived to be 74, passing away on April 21, 1910. For more information on Twain’s life and career, take a look at the Library of Congress site.
To read some of Twain’s works for free, visit Project Guttenberg. The electronic book database has many works available for free download, including many of Twain’s books. (the project offers works with expired copyrights for free)
Twain spent his later years at a home called Stormfield in Redding, Connecticut. Thomas Edison made a silent film of him at his home in Redding in 1909. It’s only a little over a minute long, but its still cool to see Twain walking around in his legendary white suit while smoking cigars.
[Image via bolstablog]
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