On June 1, 1950, Maine’s own Margaret Chase Smith stepped to the podium of the United States Senate and delivered her now famous speech titled the “Declaration of Conscience” at the height of the era of McCarthyism. McCarthyism was a reckless brand of social and political purging attributed to then Senator Joseph McCarthy defined by callous accusations of anti-Americanism based on one’s independent beliefs. If you don’t agree with me, you must be Anti-American. During this period, the fundamental American right to free thought and expression was under attack from within the very walls of Congress that were built to protect and ensure such freedoms.
Our present moment in American social and political life feels timely to revisit Margaret Chase Smith’s words. She was among the first to speak out, the first to break rank with her political party, and the first to say that what was happening was not ok.
A friend recently shared a copy of her speech, and I am now sharing it with you. The speech takes approximately ten minutes to read so the clicks and views on this post we be tested by the fact that her full message cannot be conveyed in seconds. I hope you have ten minutes…
“In this life there will be lessons. Those lessons will be repeated until learned.”
– Deborah Dooley
