In the 30th day of Army vs. McCarthy Hearings before a Senate Committee, June 9, 1954, a verbal exchange occurred that changed history. Joseph McCarthy, senator from Wisconsin, was leading the fight to uncover communist sympathizers in America. He had been a young circuit court judge and a pilot during World War II.
When it came to ferreting out communists his "bulldog" tenacity served well. He could see communist "red" and all shades of "pink" wherever he looked in the landscape of American society. The Great Depression of the '30s had prompted some Americans to believe that communist socialism was a better system than capitalism. Many dipped their toes into the communist pool, others took the plunge.
On this day he attacked Fred Fisher, a member of the law firm of Joseph Welch, chief defense counsel for the Department of the Army. McCarthy accused attorney Fisher of having been a member of the NLG, National Lawyers Guild, while attending Harvard Law School. The NLG was a group that FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover wanted designated as a communist front. Welch took exception to McCarthy's accusations, saying that Fisher had acted foolishly and, unwittingly as a young college student and that McCarthy's remarks would serve only to destroy the young man's reputation and career.
McCarthy continued to mine the vein of "red gold." Welch objected and repeated that only the destruction of Mr. Fisher's career would be accomplished. McCarthy tried to renew the attack. Welch responded, "Senator, may we drop this? You have done enough. Have you no decency sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?" McCarthy had already made a mockery of the hearings and had gained disfavor with the public.
McCarthy tried to ask Welch another question about Fisher, and Welch cut him off saying: "Mr. McCarthy, I will not discuss this further with you. And if there is a God in heaven it will do neither you nor your cause any good." Welch then asked the committee chairman to call the next witness. The gallery erupted in applause. The hearings were indecisive and McCarthy was later censured by the Senate. His promising career, he was the youngest to be elected to the Senate from his state, had been lost and he was never taken seriously again in Washington.
That moment changed the course of the McCarthy investigations into communist activities. Welch had revealed to the television audience and those at the hearings, the flawed character of Sen. Joe McCarthy who had become a demagogue.
Fast forward 57 years to the presidential election campaign. A former junior senator from Illinois, elected president just two and a half years earlier, is now campaigning for re-election, 18 months before the November 2012 election. By most accounts, his administrations has a dismal record of accomplishment. His campaign promises were mostly broken. The only way to win the voters to his side now is to make more promises and lie about the past three years.
He had promised more transparency in government. He had promised to bring the nation together. Promised to close GITMO prison, fix the economy; to gain energy independence, and reduce unemployment. He promised a new health care law and he and his supporters got one by lying and deceiving.
The public was told that we had to pass the law to find out what was in it; a line that only a "snake oil" salesperson would use. This administration's record, out of necessity, will have to be defended through use of more lies.
With over $1 billion in Obama's re-election fund liberals will be able to produce dozens of slick ads and blitz the media with messages that bury the truth. Mainstream media will likely support his charade, again. Liberals will forgive Obama almost any indiscretion and most broken promises; Conservatives will forgive none. With the resulting stalemate it will be moderates and independents who decide the outcome in 2012. Look for Obama to sound like a moderate in the coming months; this means he will have to revert to what he does best -- promise, deny and blame someone else.
At some point during the 2012 presidential election it may become necessary, and would be refreshing, for an opponent of Barack Obama to ask the same question that Joseph Welch asked of Senator Joseph McCarthy: "Have you no decency sir?" The person who has the wisdom and the fortitude to ask would change history, for the better.
While this might be wished for, voters can make their own statement at the ballot box by voting to end the reign of Obama.
Reynolds lives in Pleasant View.
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