Remembering Congressional Democratic Response to McCarthy

[Sharm]

Excerpts come from the New York Times.

1-6-1954: But while Senator McCarthy denied any shift in emphasis from Communism to other investigating fields, he did say that Communist issues would not predominat in the next two major investigations he had planned for this year. The next big inquiry, he said, will be of "disturbing" tax settlements made during the Truman Administration. Another, which he refused to identify, will deal with graft, inefficiencies, corruption, and mismanagement with Communism as a minor element, he declared. That one will not be ready for hearings for another six months.

"Just before the elections?" a reporter asked. "You go to Hell," Senator McCarthy replied with a broad grin. <...>

But while Senator McCarthy denied reports that Senator John McClellan, Democrat of Arkansas, was considering reintroducing a five-year old resolution to create a joint House-Senate committee to deal with subversion in place of the three committees now handling the problem: "I have too much respect for McClellan to think he'd be the tool of left-wing elements of his party." Asked why a joint committee would play into the hands of "left wing elements": "That's too obvious to require an answer."

1-23: The strategy of Democratic leadership in the Senate is to avoid a major clash with Senator McCarthy and allow public attention to focus on the decline in farm prices, the rise in unemployment, and other "pocketbook" issues. On this basis the Democrats figure to win the November election, but it has lead them into an awkward conflict between politics and principles. In private they are the bravest drawing room critics of McCarthy in the city, but in public they say very little and are remarkably casual about their responsibilities as minority representatives of McCarthy's Permanent SubCommittee on Investigation. <...>

They walked out of the subcommittee last July in protest against McCarthy's dictatorial administration of the committee and they are still out, though they have not carried their complaints to the floor of the Senate, and all three have recently voted in favor of giving McCarthy another $200,000 to cary on his work for another year.

2-6-1954: Senator McCarthy called the Democrats "the party of communism, betrayal, and treason" in a fiery speech before McComb County Republicans tonight. He appealed to "all good Democrats to desert the 'party of betrayal' and join the Republicans to do the job which is so far from completed." The Senator linked what he called the "ADAers" and "Adlaiers" <...> "Decent Democrats have repudiated ADA because it so often parrots the Communist line."

3-7: Some of the leaders attending the dinner expressed privately their belief that Mr. Stevenson's speech contained political elements for a "parting of the way" among those Democrats who differ strongly on the technique for leveling criticism at the Eisenhower Administration. <...> Some Democrats, notably in the South, are said to prefer to base the 1954 and 1956 campaigns on issues other than Senator McCarthy.

3-9: The Senate Democrats dew together today in support of policies that forecast an attempt by them to fight the coming Congressional Campaign almost wholly on economic issues. <...> In their first caucus, the Senate Democrats made no move in support of the apparent decision by Adlai Stevenson to make "McCarthyism" and Eisenhower's alleged tolerance of it a major issue in the fall. <...> Instead, they took up a series of positions, sometimes loosely defined, that amounted to an effort to appeal to large farmer and consumer groups.

[Minnesota Libra]

1. Change a few names and what date was that we..........

.....are talking about anyway?? In all fairness I see the point being made but still there comes a time to make a stand for something other than wishy washy ethics. There are enough issues that Bush can indeed be beat on the issues alone even with the censure bill.