Letters from an American
Letters from an American

A Declaration of Conscience

9 min
•Jun 1, 2026about 2 months ago
Listen to Episode
Summary

This episode examines Senator Margaret Chase Smith's courageous 1950 stand against Senator Joseph McCarthy's anti-communist witch hunts, which threatened American democratic principles. Smith's Declaration of Conscience warned that McCarthy's tactics of fear, character assassination, and political exploitation endangered the nation's core values and the two-party system itself.

Insights
  • Political courage often requires standing alone: Smith was the only Republican senator to publicly oppose McCarthy despite widespread private concern, demonstrating that institutional silence enables harmful behavior
  • Fear-based political messaging exploits legitimate concerns to advance unrelated agendas: McCarthy weaponized genuine Cold War anxiety to dismantle the New Deal and restore pre-1933 business dominance
  • Democratic institutions depend on defending unpopular speech and dissent: Smith emphasized that freedom of thought and criticism are foundational to preventing totalitarianism
  • Short-term political victory achieved through character assassination creates long-term institutional damage: Smith warned that winning via smear tactics would ultimately destroy the Republican Party and democratic norms
  • Institutional accountability requires time and persistence: McCarthy was condemned four years later, validating Smith's early warnings despite initial public dismissal
Trends
Political polarization weaponizes legitimate security concerns to advance partisan agendasErosion of free speech through social pressure and character assassination precedes formal censorshipInstitutional silence from moderate voices enables extremist movements to dominate political discourseFear-based messaging proves more electorally effective than policy-based appeals, creating incentive structures for demagogueryDemocratic resilience depends on cross-party defense of fundamental principles over partisan advantageTotalitarian techniques exploit existing anxieties rather than creating entirely new fearsHistorical vindication of principled stands often comes too late to prevent institutional damage
Topics
McCarthyism and anti-communist witch huntsPolitical courage and institutional dissentCharacter assassination and reputation destructionFreedom of speech and thought suppressionCold War era politics and communist fearsNew Deal government and economic policyRepublican Party internal divisionsDemocratic principles and totalitarian techniquesPolitical integrity versus electoral victoryTwo-party system and democratic governanceSenate leadership and moral authorityPartisan exploitation of national securityInstitutional accountability and delayed justiceAmerican values and democratic normsPolitical messaging and fear-based rhetoric
People
Margaret Chase Smith
Republican senator from Maine who delivered the Declaration of Conscience opposing McCarthy's witch hunts on June 1, ...
Joseph McCarthy
Wisconsin Republican senator who led anti-communist witch hunts with unsubstantiated accusations against State Depart...
Heather Cox Richardson
Wrote and read the episode analyzing Margaret Chase Smith's political courage during the McCarthy era
Clyde Smith
Margaret Chase Smith's husband; died in 1940, after which she was elected to finish his congressional term
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Democratic president who implemented the New Deal programs that became a target of McCarthy-era Republican attacks
Harry Truman
Democratic president whose administration Smith criticized but defended against McCarthy's tactics
Quotes
"I would like to speak briefly and simply about a serious national condition. It is a national feeling of fear and frustration that could result in national suicide and the end of everything that we Americans hold dear."
Margaret Chase Smith•June 1, 1950
"Those of us who shout the loudest about Americanism in making character assassinations are all too frequently those who, by our own words and acts, ignore some of the basic principles of Americanism."
Margaret Chase Smith•June 1, 1950
"Freedom of speech is not what it used to be in America. It has been so abused by some that it is not exercised by others."
Margaret Chase Smith•June 1, 1950
"I do not want to see the Republican Party ride to political victory on the four horsemen of Calumny—fear, ignorance, bigotry, and smear."
Margaret Chase Smith•June 1, 1950
"As an American, I condemn a Republican fascist just as much as I condemn a Democrat communist. They are equally dangerous to you and me and to our country."
Margaret Chase Smith•June 1, 1950
Full Transcript
May 31st, 2026. On June 1st, 1950, Senator Margaret Chase Smith, a Republican from Maine, stood up against Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin and his supporters, who were undermining American democracy in a crusade against communism. Margaret Chase was born in Skowhegan in 1897, the oldest child of a barber and a waitress, and became a teacher and a reporter before she got into politics through her husband, Clyde Smith, who was a state legislator and newspaper man. Soon after they married in 1930, she was elected to the Maine Republican State Committee and served until 1936, when Maine voters elected Clyde to Congress. Once in Washington, Margaret worked as her husband's researcher, speechwriter, and press secretary. When Clyde died of a heart attack in April 1940, voters elected Margaret to finish his term, then re-elected her to Congress in her own right. They did so three more times, always with more than 60% of the vote. In 1948, they elected her to the Senate with a 71% majority. When she was elected to Congress, the U.S. was still getting used to the New Deal government that Democratic President Franklin Delano Roosevelt had ushered in, first to combat the Great Depression, and then to fight for victory in World War II. Smith's party was divided between those who thought the new system was a proper adjustment to the modern world and those determined to destroy that new government. Those who wanted to slash the government back to the form it had taken in the 1920s, when businessmen ran it, had a problem. American voters liked the business regulation, basic social safety net, and infrastructure construction of the new system. To combat that popularity, the anti-New Deal Republicans insisted that the U.S. government was sliding toward communism. With the success of the People's Liberation Army and the declaration of the People's Republic of China in October 1949, Americans were willing to entertain the idea that communism was spreading across the globe and would soon take over the U.S. Republican politicians eager to reclaim control of the government for the first time since 1933 fanned the flames of that fear. On February 9th, 1950, during a speech to a group gathered in Wheeling, West Virginia to celebrate Abraham Lincoln's birthday, an undistinguished senator from Wisconsin named Joe McCarthy claimed that he had a list of 205 communists working for the State Department and that the Democrats refused to investigate these, traitors in the government. The anti-New Deal faction of the party jumped on board. Sympathetic newspapers trumpeted McCarthy's charges, which kept changing and for which he never offered proof, and his colleagues cheered him on, while Congress members from the Republican faction that had signed onto the liberal consensus kept their heads down to avoid becoming the target of his attacks. All but one of them did, that is. Senator Smith recognized the damage McCarthy and his ilk were doing to the nation. She had seen the effects of his behavior up close in Maine, where the faction of the Republican Party that supported McCarthy had supported the state's Ku Klux Klan. Clyde and Margaret Chase Smith had taken a stand against them. On June 1st, 1950, only four months after McCarthy made his infamous speech in Wheeling, Smith stood up in the Senate to make a short speech. She began, I would like to speak briefly and simply about a serious national condition. It is a national feeling of fear and frustration that could result in national suicide and the end of everything that we Americans hold dear. I speak as a Republican. I speak as a woman. I speak as a United States Senator. I speak as an American. Referring to Senator McCarthy, who was sitting two rows behind her, Senator Smith condemned the leaders in her party who were destroying lives with wild accusations. Those of us who shout the loudest about Americanism in making character assassinations are all too frequently. Those who, by our own words and acts, ignore some of the basic principles of Americanism, she pointed out. Americans have the right to criticize, to hold unpopular beliefs, to protest, and to think for themselves. But attacks that cost people their reputations and jobs were stifling these basic American principles. Freedom of speech is not what it used to be in America, Senator Smith said. It has been so abused by some that it is not exercised by others. Senator Smith wanted a Republican victory in the upcoming elections, she explained, but to replace President Harry Truman's Democratic administration, for which she had plenty of harsh words, with a Republican regime that lacks political integrity or intellectual honesty would prove equally disastrous to this nation. I do not want to see the Republican Party ride to political victory on the four horsemen of Calumny, fear, ignorance, bigotry, and smear. I doubt if the Republican Party could do so, she added. Simply because I do not believe the American people will uphold any political party that puts political exploitation above national interest. Surely we Republicans are not that desperate for victory. I do not want to see the Republican Party win that way, she said. While it might be a fleeting victory for the Republican Party, it would be a more lasting defeat for the American people. Surely it would ultimately be suicide for the Republican Party and the two-party system that has protected our American liberties from the dictatorship of a one-party system. As an American, I condemn a Republican fascist just as much as I condemn a Democrat communist, she said. They are equally dangerous to you and me and to our country. As an American, I want to see our nation recapture the strength and unity it once had when we fought the enemy instead of ourselves. Smith presented a Declaration of Conscience, listing five principles she hoped her party would adopt. It ended with a warning. It is high time that we all stopped being tools and victims of totalitarian techniques. Techniques that, if continued here unchecked, will surely end what we have come to cherish as the American way of life. Six other Republican senators signed on to Senator Smith's Declaration. There were two reactions to the speech within the party. McCarthy sneered at Snow White and the Six Dwarves. Other Republicans quietly applauded Smith's courage but refused to show similar courage themselves with public support. In the short term, Senator Smith's voice was largely ignored in the public arena and then when the Korean War broke out, forgotten. But she was right. Four years later, the Senate condemned McCarthy. And while Senator Smith was later awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, McCarthy has gone down in history as a disgrace to the Senate and to the United States of America. Letters from an American was written and read by Heather Cox Richardson. It was produced at Soundscape Productions, dead in Massachusetts. Recorded with music composed by Michael Moss.