#ResistanceRoots Today in history, 1950: Senator Margaret Chase Smith delivers her “Declaration of Conscience” speech criticizing the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) and (without naming him) Senator Joseph McCarthy. She called on fellow Republicans to re-examine HUAC’s tactics. /1 - ThreadSky

bambooshooti.bsky.social • 1 day ago

#ResistanceRoots

Today in history, 1950: Senator Margaret Chase Smith delivers her “Declaration of Conscience” speech criticizing the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) and (without naming him) Senator Joseph McCarthy. She called on fellow Republicans to re-examine HUAC’s tactics. /1

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bambooshooti.bsky.social•1 day ago

Four months earlier, McCarthy had delivered a speech to the Republican Women’s Club of Wheeling, W.V. He waved a piece of paper and claimed it had a list of known Communists working for the State Department. Communism was a major concern, and the “Wheeling Speech” attracted media interest. /2

bambooshooti.bsky.social•1 day ago

HUAC is associated with McCarthy but predated him by more than a decade. The committee was created in 1938 to investigate alleged subversive activities and communist organizations. HUAC was made a standing committee in 1946, investigating Hollywood, the Labor Movement and the Advocacy Movement. /3

bambooshooti.bsky.social•1 day ago

In her speech, Smith said that “Americanism” is based on four principles:
• the right to criticize
• the right to hold unpopular beliefs
• the right to protest
• the right of independent thought

Smith voiced concern that people who exercised those beliefs risked being labeled communists. /4

bambooshooti.bsky.social•1 day ago

Smith called the Truman administration “ineffective” and argued that “a Republican victory is necessary to the security of this country.” However, “a Republican regime embracing a philosophy that lacks political integrity or intellectual honesty would prove equally disastrous to this nation.” /5

bambooshooti.bsky.social•1 day ago

Smith continued: “I don’t want to see the Republican Party ride to political victory on the Four Horsemen of Calumny — Fear, Ignorance, Bigotry and Smear. … I don’t believe the American people will uphold any political party that puts political exploitation above national interest.” /end

voteblue27.bsky.social•1 day ago

Wow..it feels like she's talking to us now..

oldschoollib69.bsky.social•23 hours ago

That was back in the days when the “Grand Old Party” could be shamed!

beasweet.bsky.social•1 day ago

Sure would be almost as historic if -75 years later Collins might find her spine and do the same

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