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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Entertainment
Martin Pengelly in Washington

‘Have you no sense of decency, sir?’ Joe McCarthy and the road to Trump

Joe McCarthy Joseph McCarthy Donald Trump Mahmoud Khalil Elon Musk Red Scare
a man pointing to a chart
Joseph Welch, left, at the congressional hearing on 9 June 1954 at which he confronted Senator Joseph McCarthy, shown standing next to a map. Photograph: Bettmann/Bettmann Archive

On 9 June 1954, in a Senate hearing room on Capitol Hill, Joseph Nye Welch made American history. With one question, the lawyer prompted the downfall of Joe McCarthy, the Republican Wisconsin senator who for years had run amok, his persecution of supposed communist subversives ruining countless lives.

“Until this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness,” Welch said, as millions watched on TV, as he defended Fred Fisher, a young lawyer in McCarthy’s sights.

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