Famous quote from the
McCarthy hearings, directed at Senator
Joseph McCarthy by
Joseph Welch,
attorney for the
Army. The senator brought up the fact that a young member of Welch's
law firm had while in college been a member of the
National Lawyer's Guild, an organization with
leftist ties. McCarthy and his assistant
Roy Cohn had employed these kinds of bullying tactics throughout the hearings, but this time Welch exploded, delivering a scathing
denunciation of McCarthy that ended with these words:
"I meant to do you no personal injury and if I did, I beg
your pardon. Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator. You've done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?"
Part of this speech is sampled in REM's song "Exhuming McCarthy".