While researching Truman’s papers
today, I came across a remarkably relevant speech he gave.
For brief context, a Republican
Attorney General (Herbert Brownell) used a public speech to accuse former President
Harry Truman of bringing Communist spies into high government positions. It was
irresponsibly false. The speech played to Sen. Joe McCarthy’s populist attacks
on government elites, the FBI, Hollywood, and academics.
Within days, the Republican-led House
Un-American Activities Committee subpoenaed Truman to testify.
On November 16, 1953, Truman issued a
statement explaining that he would not comply with the subpoena.
He ended by stating this:
“The corruption of truth, the
abandonment of our historical devotion for fair play, the use of the big lie and
the unfounded accusation against any citizen in the name of Americanism or security,
the rise to power of the demagogue who lives on untruth, the spread of fear and
the destruction it faith in every level of our society is not a partisan matter.
'This horrible cancer is eating
at the vitals of America and it can destroy the great edifice of freedom. If
this sordid, deliberate and unprecedented attack on the loyalty of a former President
of the United States is going to serve to alert the people to the terrible
danger that our nation and each citizen faces, then it will have been a blessing
in disguise.”
Hopefully, truth will be
restored to its rightful place in public discourse. For more, see file:///C:/Users/m-leroy/Downloads/18-6%20(2).pdf.
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