MEN IN CRISIS: McCARTHY VS. WELCH

[Music] i am getting very very weary of sitting here and acting as though we're playing some little game from this committee this committee these activities may well determine for this nation will live or die we've got to clean out the those who are the sensational climax of senator joseph mccarthy's challenged by an unknown boston lawyer named joseph welch covering up communists and traitors not dead ones but liars do you not know senator don't don't don't pull on me sir don't you no no don't don't don't forgive me don't suggest to me sir if you please that the united states army is going to cut its own throat by letting communists cut its throat as you say they may don't tell me sir that the united states army doesn't fight communists you do not have a monopoly sir in that field this is a story of men in crisis [Music] [Music] in the spring of 1954 the stage is set for the most astonishing spectacle in american political history a united states senator and the department of the army have leveled charges against one another ranging from blackmail to treason in an open hearing the senate committee must decide who is right this controversy reaches far beyond the committee room for it involves the careers of statesmen and generals the prestige of the senate and the power of the president two men dominate these hearings one is joseph welch defense attorney for the army a shrewd trial lawyer from boston other is senator joseph mccarthy in less than eight years he has become perhaps the most powerful man in the senate the most controversial figure in america thrust into the chaos of the congressional hearings joseph welch is unprepared for the freewheeling no-holds-barred atmosphere but for senator mccarthy the committee room is a familiar and favorite battleground and so joe welch must learn a different kind of law than he's practiced all his life [Music] raised in prigma iowa joe welsh son of the town handyman graduates from grinnell college with a five betta kappa key and a scholarship to harvard law school a top student in the class of 1917 he soon goes to work for an old and respected boston law firm a specialist in tax law and anti-trust cases [Music] joe welsh settles in boston and in the next 30 years with the firm of hail and door he becomes a senior partner and earns a reputation in legal circles as one of the soundest trial lawyers in the eastern united states but to the general public joseph welch is just another lawyer senator joseph mccarthy on the other hand is known to virtually every american but it is more by accident and circumstance than design and planning joe mccarthy is late getting started he's 20 years old when he enters high school in manoa wisconsin but once underway he pushes himself with a restless dedication within six years in 1936 he has a law degree three years later he emerges from a rough and tumbled political battle as the youngest circuit judge in wisconsin [Music] and finally in 1946 joe mccarthy arrives in washington at 37 he is wisconsin's junior senator he has come a long way powered by a facile mind and a world of ambition at first among more experienced senators mccarthy seems lost he has no seniority and must accept routine committee assignments from robert taft republican senate leader but joe mccarthy soon hits on the issue to which he can apply his limitless energy which he will pursue with feverish dedication his charge of widespread communist influence in government [Music] in two years joseph mccarthy links his name to a cause and becomes the best-known senator in the united states one communist on the faculty of one university is one communist too many one communist among the admiration american advisers that yalta was one communist too many and even even if there were only one communist in the state department even if there are only one communists in the state department that will still be one communist too many to some a dedicated patriot to others a dangerous demagogue joe mccarthy is america's most controversial senator in countless hearings since 1950 the senator has served as investigator interrogator and accuser never before had he been one of the accused for almost four years few men dared challenge mccarthy such was his power that even presidents shied away from open conflict with him but now secretary of the army robert stevens prepares to open the case against the senator charging that mccarthy had attempted to blackmail the army into giving special considerations to a draftee named david shine once a member of mccarthy's staff i may say that during my tenure as secretary of the army there is no record that matches this persistent tireless effort to obtain special consideration and privileges for this man the shine case is only an example of the wrongful seeking of privilege of the perversion of power it has been a distraction that has kept many men from the performance of tasks far more important to the welfare of this country than the convenience of a single army private in conclusion i want to make it attention is soon focused on roy cohn mccarthy's aide and his most trusted advisor my impression was that mr cone was tremendously interested in mr shawn and in having special treatment for mr sean cone's link to david shine is the key to the army's charges early in 1953 david shine joins roy cohn on mccarthy's staff and together they help him turn the relatively unimportant subcommittee on government operations into a headline-making enterprise for investigating communists in the government a much heralded trip to u.s installations in europe produces sensational but largely unproven charges of communist influence almost immediately afterward the freewheeling team has broken up david shine is inducted into the army and according to robert stevens a determined campaign is launched by roy cohn to get shine a commission and reassignment to the staff of the mccarthy committee when the efforts fail stevens contends that cohn vindictively begins to investigate the army at the federal courthouse in new york mccarthy does hold investigations of communist influence in the army and one of the witnesses summoned is general ralph zwicker sitting as a one-man committee mccarthy challenges wicker's contention that he cannot answer certain questions without violating army security and angrily calls zwicker unfit to wear the uniform [Music] the attack enrages president eisenhower and at a news conference and an obvious allusion to mccarthy's statement he praises general zwicker as a man of loyalty devotion and courage within hours mccarthy impulsively calls a press conference to answer the president it is a naked challenge to eisenhower's prestige if a stupid arrogant or witness man in a position of power appears before our committee and is found aiding the communist party he will be exposed the fact that he might be a general places him in no special class as far as i'm concerned in the days that follow mccarthy engages in a public quarrel with the army he claims that they are holding david shine hostage in order to get him to call off the hearings now roy cohn will answer the army's charge and if these high tied men whom you described including the secretary of the army say that roy m cohn said that this is it this is war we will investigate the heck out of the army or investigate the army from now on out you don't deny it do you uh yes sir you see the secretary does not as i heard his testimony did not say that i said any of those things further mr jenkins you don't deny it well i can come pretty close to denying it sir because i talked to the lines of accusation and denial are clearly drawn and from this moment on the hearings will move in new and even more fascinating directions senator dorsett all right the chair of votes i we stand in recess until 10 o'clock monday morning the daily transcripts of the testimony normally dry and routine reading are in demand for front-page spreads in newspapers across the country as rarely before in history the day-to-day activity of a minor senate subcommittee absorbs the attention of the american public it is estimated that some 20 million television viewers watch the daily proceedings broadcast live the jury to which the hearings play is no longer seven senators but an entire nation i am only suggesting to you sir that as to this case which has to be judged as i view it in part by the people and in part by the committee it would be graceful for welch not to announce that your charges are completely false and that the army is surely a complete winner and if we might all as well go home tonight and i think sir if you will permit me to say it it would be graceful for you to await a verdict mr lie those who are placed in a position to render the virtual i believe the american jury if i judge the reaction i've gotten properly are getting a picture a picture of the seriousness of this situation a picture which mr welch unfortunately i'm afraid some of us in this room do not have so joseph mccarthy has issued the challenge it is no longer a conflict over truth it has now become a bitter personal clash between men the case of one army private has unleashed a barrage of questions that has led far beyond the original issue mccarthy his committee his methods of investigation and even his motives are subject to question particularly by democrats on the committee and now the nation views the spectacle of its senators wrangling over such problems as congressional ethics and national security as to whether we are entitled to get the classified files and make them public here in hearings of this character i just will not abide by any secrecy directive of anyone i think you and i have and will see presidents come and go said that we will we have a duty in closing we have a duty we have a duty to do our job even though we may differ with a perfectly honest version of what the president thinks his job is well we may differ about that and that's what i think the american people are entitled to have settled whether you're right or the president's right but the point i'm making is joe and you know it you reach the crossroads in this thing and we're we're entitled in the course of these hearings now to have this thing settled if there's any way to settle it between mccarthy and senator stuart symington a bit her personal feud has grown and now it flares into the open when you asked me and i'd say this that i was listening and you don't have to have everybody looking at you all the time you're talking you have a document with false statements in it i will not sign and agree that's true i don't you're not pulling anyone you're not [Music] i have offered to go before any committee do anything you ask if i can just get you to come down here and take the oath so we can get the answers to some questions you're not fooling anyone at all i'm sure it left senator let me tell you something the chair believes that the american people have had a look at you for six weeks you're not fooling anyone either and the potter you shouldn't do that mr simonton that's just dishonest that's that's the that's the same thing that they come in apparently every time anybody says anything against anybody working for santa mccarthy what does that mean you're declaring them and is he accusing them of communism do you know of any subversive that i can give do you know in recess senator ralph flanders adds to the confusion when he declares that he is about to denounce senator mccarthy from the floor of the senate chamber itself and mccarthy lashes back i think senator if you have any information of value to this committee what you should do is do what my three republican colleagues have done what i am doing now take the oath raise your right hand let us cross-examine you if you have nothing except the usual smear gleaned from the smear sheets then then you should tell us that senator the chair will have to rule that the committee has control of these proceedings you'll have to ask under flanders to retire to the rear of the room where the other spectators are i'm sorry we can't permit this kind of feuding to go on here in front of the committee joseph welch has become a veteran of the hearing room he has mastered the free-for-all style of the washington politician and in six weeks of skirmishes and minor clashes he has carefully gauged his opponent now he will meet joe mccarthy on his own terms minor issues are forgotten welsh aims for the very heart of the senator's political image joe mccarthy's four-year battle against communism in america now examining roy cohn welsh's dry biting wit belittles the committee's claims of exposing subversives this is only what i'm saying that if you wanted it to catch a young soldier and make a communist out of him one pass at him in the dentist chair isn't much of a pass is it is that right mr roger have asked me a number of questions which i haven't answered if i can say a few sentences i can probably give you let's just say one sentence let's take this one no he wants to make a speech i've got a simple question hammering away at cohn's testimony welsh demands proof of the committee's charges that the nation's defense plans are infiltrated with communists mccarthy william off the cities that won't hurt her would you stop me if i'm going too far i i think i can give this you can't go too far revealing communists mr cohn reel off the cities for us would you cambridge massachusetts uh new bedford massachusetts boston massachusetts quincy massachusetts lynn massachusetts pittsfield massachusetts boston massachusetts mr cole you not only frighten me you make me ashamed when there are so many in massachusetts now that i'm this is not a laughing matter believe me are you alarmed at that situation mr cole yes sir i am nothing could be more alarming could it certainly a very alarming thing will you not before the sun goes down give those names to the fbi and at least have those men put under surveillance six weeks of charges and counter charges droning testimony petty bickering some humor and much bitterness have all led to one inevitable moment the clash between two men in one determined gesture of anger and desperation joe mccarthy launches an all-out counter attack against joseph welsh now america watches as the united states senator attempts to link the boston attorney with communism mr chairman and you mr welch's request that the information be given once we know of anyone who might be performing any work for the communist party i think we should tell him that he has in his law firm a young man named fisher who has been for a number of years a member of an organization which is named oh years and years ago as the legal bulwark of the communist party until this moment senator i think i never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness fred fisher is a young man who went to the harvard law school and came into my firm and is starting what looks to be a brilliant career with us it is i regret to say equally true that i fear he shall always bear a scar needlessly inflicted by you if it were in my power to forgive you for your reckless cruelty i would do so i like to think i'm a gentleman but your forgiveness will have to come from someone other than me mr chairman chairman uh may i say that uh mr welsh talks about this being cruel and reckless he was just baiting he has been baiting mr cohen here for hours let us not assassinate this lad further senator let's look you've done enough have you no sense of decency sir at long last have you left no sense of decency i know this hurts you mr welch i'll say i'm sorry i say mr chairman of the point of personal purpose i'd like to finish this senator i think it hurts you too sir i'd like to finish this uh mr mr welsh here has been filibustering this hearing he's been talking day after day about the way he wants to get anyone tainted with communism out before sundown mr mccarthy i will not discuss this further with you you have sat within six feet of me and could ask could have asked me about fred fisher you have seen fit to bring it out and if there is a god in heaven it will do neither you nor your cause any good i will not discuss it further i will not ask mr cohen anymore witnesses you mr chairman may if you will call the next witness are there any questions to come from the uh after it is done the eyes of joe welch are filled with tears having heard every pertinent witness who has requested to be heard having heard every witness requested by any of the councils to the entities in this dispute that sarah declares these hearings adjourned signing out so the hearings end but no conclusion is reached joseph welsh will return to boston a national celebrity and his admirers will claim for him a moral victory for joseph mccarthy the determination remains but during the incredible weeks in the national spotlight he somehow lost the furious energy the driving ambition that marked his life one fact is clear from this day on the mccarthy committee will never again be a force in american life august 31st 1954 as a result of the army hearings a senate committee headed by senator arthur watkins meets to consider accenture motion against senator mccarthy the charges conduct unbecoming a senator intending to bring the senate into disrepute and on december 2nd an overwhelming majority of the senate will vote to condemn joseph mccarthy with the determined show of bravado mccarthy announces that he will go on fighting communists but somehow the senate and the nation no longer stand in ore of senator mccarthy and the spotlight has gone out so [Music] you