Senator McCarthy Lauded
as Citizens Group Forms

(June 24, 1954) When the damage done by Communists, in this country and all over the world, is compared to the errors made by Senator Joseph McCarthy and his investigation committee and staff, “the balance is so overwhelmingly in favor of Senator McCarthy that only the anguished howls of the Communists whose conspiracy is being exposed can account for the smear campaign waged against them,” Godfrey Peter Schmidt of New Rochelle, lawyer, education and lecturer, told a crowd of about 350 persons Friday night in the auditorium of the Weaver Street Firehouse.

The purpose of the meeting was to present organizational objectives of the Independent Citizens Committee for America and to propose methods of operation. The temporary cochairmen are Colonel John J. McCarthy of Larchmont and Louis S. Amonson of New Rochelle. In opening the meeting last night, Colonel McCarthy stated that it is the hope of the committee that “For America,” a national organization whose program the local committee considers essential to the welfare of America, will accept the members of the committee as one of its Westchester units.

One need not fear controversy in America, Mr. Schmidt stated, since it was the atmosphere that gave birth to the nation. The investigation of communism is of its nature a highly controversial subject, he pointed out, adding that a man who knows what Communism is and what it stands for, and then propagates it, is either a barbarian, or a blind leader of the blind. When a man denies moral principles, Mr. Schmidt stated, “he unhinges the door of civilization. Communism degrades human life, and for proof of this you need only look behind the Iron Curtain.”

How to handle communism and communist infiltration is not one of those subjects about which men can be infallible, Mr. Schmidt argued. Debating it results and doing nothing about it, he contended, and the smears against those who are doing this investigation work, and exposing the communists’ conspiracy derive from either malice or foolishness.

Mistakes

Because we cannot make a perfect newspaper, Mr. Schmidt pointed out, we don’t draw the conclusion that we should get rid of newspapers. Because detectives in our police department arrest and bring to trial a man who is acquitted, we do not propose that we should rid ourselves of detectives, he declared. Therefore, he concluded, because investigating committees make occasional mistakes, we should not conclude that we should get rid of such committees.

Newspapers that criticize Senator McCarthy for his errors are the same ones who are constantly critical of everything else he does, Mr. Schmidt continued. “Yet,” he contended, “Senator McCarthy is the best investigator this country has ever had. In fact,” he declared, “if you really want to know who the number one enemy of communism is, read the communist periodicals!”

Mr. Schmidt then reviewed the work of Senator McCarthy since February, 1950, when he made is celebrated speech against communism in Virginia. He claimed “a deliberate smear attempt” following that speech when “a Senator” claimed to have a verbatim report on tape of what Senator McCarthy actually said.

Mr. Schmidt stated that that senator “had to admit later that he had no such recording.”

Cites “Blunders”

Mr. Schmidt turned to the State Department and contended that “the continuing loss of prestige that this nation has suffered since World War II cannot be declared the result of stupidity and that Department, but rather the result of bad advice from those Communists and fellow travelers who had infiltrated the Department.” He cited the background of the State Department during the postwar years, “the blunders made in international relations which have resulted in our being disliked in spite of the billions of dollars poured into foreign countries,” and contended that this should be the background against which Senator McCarthy should be judged.

The State Department blunders, he stated, cannot be charged to stupidity, because “I don’t think any American is that stupid.” When Senator McCarthy went after the State Department, Mr. Schmidt pointed out, he was immediately attacked and smeared “because he was treading on bureaucratic toes.”

He deplored that the intellectual classes are “most blinded to the smear campaign against Senator McCarthy.” He praised Roy Cohn, counsel to the Senate Investigations Subcommittee, whom he knows well. “I never knew him to do an unworthy thing or express and unworthy thought,” he declared. He argued that only a boob hides things instead of exposing them.

In fact, he said, the very people who are criticizing Senator McCarthy are seeking to exact from him a degree of perfection not found in even the best of people. “I never heard,” he added, “any complaints when employers are kicked around in labor hearings.”

A little known fact, Mr. Schmidt added, is that the first 50 years of investigations in this country were all directed against the executive branch of government

We are all willing to admit the mistakes made by Senator McCarthy and other investigating committees, Mr. Schmidt continued, but we can hardly expect him for them to keep patient in case of communist infiltration and the ineptitudes in handling it as have been shown. “Senator McCarthy’s achievement,” he declared, “is that he has constantly fought Communism without giving quarter, and that we need a little more of that!”

“Narcotic”

“Communism,” he said in conclusion, “is a mental and spiritual narcotic let loose on the world. Let’s get behind McCarthy and fight this thing!”

Colonel McCarthy read a telegram received that day from Senator McCarthy, thanking those who backed the advertisement that appeared in Monday’s Daily Times.

Organization

He then outlined the proposed setup of the organization being formed, using printed cards placed on a board. It is headed by a steering committee drawn from Pen Cells of twelve members each, the cell chairmen to be constantly rotated, and meeting in his home. Each cell member he said, will be assigned specific tasks such as listening to the radio, following the press, watching TV, listening to commentators, following books and book reviews, reading the Congressional Record, library books, school texts and Scout books.

“We can’t go to Moscow to the enemy,” he said, “but we can watch the proximate enemy in this country.” He strongly urged that all read the Daily Worker and Political Affairs.

He also outlined how the meeting should be run as to various hours for the consideration of various subjects, closing with study of development of future action.

In his opening remarks Colonel McCarthy pointed out that a number of anti-communist organizations have been created “but we view with great concern the course of action that most of them have followed.” By refusing to be its absorbed by larger units, he stated, “our potential civic power is dissipated.” Many of them have the philosophy “that they should be most careful not to be too controversial, not too antagonistic, not offend the feelings of anyone,” he said.

“We reject this philosophy,” he declared. “ We feel that it is time to be militant. The Communists and their fellow travelers, including some who profess to weep bitter tears over the alleged invasion of individual rights, have no hesitancy in being antagonistic, in being controversial, and walking roughshod over anyone disagrees with them.”

These very people, he continued, have taken on the “mantle of liberalism” but are the “most the liberal of all people. Deviate one iota from their beliefs and you are promptly branded as fascist, isolationist, or seeking to turn the clock back ... We want to turn the clock back to the era when it wasn’t considered naïve or provincial to pledge allegiance to this country first. When it wasn’t naïve to express our belief in and love for God! When the National Anthem made your heart beat a bit faster and the words of the Twenty-third Psalm lifted our hopes so little higher, and you didn’t try to hide that from your neighbor!”

“Look Ahead”

He urged that the Committee also look ahead to the day “when this country will regain its national respect at home and abroad,” and defend its citizen and its rights, the day when people can look forward to the return to constitutional government.

“The cry has been raised,” Colonel McCarthy stated. “that Senator McCarthy and others who are fighting communism have created a national hysteria and people are afraid to speak. To date the only people who seem afraid to speak are those who support a McCarthy, Velde, Jenner, and J. Edgar Hoover. Our newspapers, periodicals, radio, television, even the stage and the government are full of people who constantly, day after day, attack, attack, attack!”

“It is time we remember,” Colonel McCarthy said, “that the best defense is a good offensive, that we must destroy our enemy and his will to fight, at home first and then if necessary abroad.”

This means that that the people of this country must abandon the policy of “let George do it,” Colonel McCarthy declared, and “turn out to meetings, write letters to protest and commend. It means realizing that it is later than we have thought and if we continue to be moral cowards, we will be slaves in our lifetime!”

He insisted that if he is to do with the committee, it must have in its membership at least half who are not Catholics. “This is not a Catholic fight or a Protestant flight, or a fight carried on by any other religious or racial group.”

The meeting opened with a short prayer by Mr. Amonson and the singing of the National Anthem. A question period followed Mr. Schmidt’s talk.