Margaret Chase Smith The Senate's Conscience Analysis

Margaret Chase Smith: The Senate’s Conscience After barely a year in the Senate, no one expected freshman senator Margaret Chase Smith, a moderate Republican, to stand up to Joseph McCarthy, senior Republican senator. According to Smith, “in those days, freshman senators were seen and not heard, like good children” (qtd. in Hutchinson 228). Communist speculation had begun in the thirties by a group of conservatives. On February 9,1950, senator Joseph McCarthy delivered a speech in Wheeling, West Virginia, where he announced that the Department of State employed 206 Communists. (Truman 207). Although Senator McCarthy had a large Republican following, both in the Senate and outside, combined with the fact that elections were only months away,

Since McCarthy’s speech in Wheeling, Margaret “began to wonder about the validity... and fairness of Joseph McCarthy’s charges” (qtd in Truman 208). Smith hoped that a senior senator would take a lead in denouncing McCarthy; however, as the weeks passed, Smith became progressively agitated by McCarthy’s ruthless attacks on individuals (“A Declaration”). Smith was not the only one concerned with McCarthy’s tactics, but “two Republican senators who had

She would not debase him like he had tarnished the reputations of others; her primary goal was to restore the Senate’s integrity (Hutchinson 228). While the “Declaration of Conscience” contained censure of the Democratic party, the main focus of the speech was to “stop thinking about elections and start thinking about national security based on policy of individual freedom” (Truman 208). Smith demonstrated the political courage Kennedy describes in Profiles in Courage because she refuted one of the most powerful men in her political party through her speech. The speech earned Smith nationwide attention, most of in which her constituents and a substantial number of other Americans supported her efforts and courage. Furthermore, the address gained supporters for Smith’s upcoming election. The common American valued the fact that Smith was, as John F. Kennedy said, “someone who cares about the welfare of the people-their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights and their civil liberties-someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad” (Kennedy 77). Smith argued for the freedom of speech of the American people; she refuted the authoritarian ideas of McCarthy. Even so, the speech had little effect on McCarthy’s growing political power. Margaret Chase Smith knew that her declaration could have drastic