She Who Dared: Margaret Chase Smith vs. Joseph McCarthy

Maine Senator Margaret Chase Smith, the only female U.S. Senator, confronted Senator Joseph McCarthy over his Red Scare on June 1, 1950. She didn’t address the simultaneous Lavender Scare. The Red Scare targeted Communists, and the Lavender Scare targeted homosexuals. Why did he do it? Besides his personal beliefs about communism and homosexuality, his investigations and accusations also gave him national attention, political power, and media coverage.

He met his match in Margaret Chase Smith, a working-class woman from Maine who had worked as a teacher, telephone operator, and circulation manager for a newspaper. Joseph McCarthy came from a large working-class family in rural Wisconsin, finished high school in one year at the age of twenty, and earned a law degree from Marquette University before entering politics. Their personalities and values could not be more different.

For instance, McCarthy addressed the Senate in February 1950, stating:

“I have here in my hand a list of 205... names that were made known to the Secretary of State as being members of the Communist Party...” 

“Our job as Americans and as Republicans is to dislodge the traitors from every place where they’ve been sent to do their traitorous work.”

                                           — Enemies from Within speech, 1950

Margaret Chase Smith was already familiar with his attacks, but preempted his hatred with:

“The right to criticize: the right to hold unpopular beliefs; the right to protest; the right of independent thought. The exercise of these rights should not cost one single American citizen his reputation or his right to a livelihood.” 

“I do not want to see the Republican Party ride to political victory on the Four Horsemen of Calumny—Fear, Ignorance, Bigotry, and Smear.”

                                           — The Declaration of Conscience, 1950

The public deemed McCarthy’s approach during the 1954 Army-McCarthy hearings as irresponsible and extreme. The Senate censured him later that year. 

Margaret Chase Smith had a lengthy career and passed away at the age of 97.