Though I was extremely young at the time, I actually remember the Army- McCarthy hearings, a memory bolstered, of course, by viewing video of the hearings several times in later life. The hearings should be required viewing for anyone attending any institution of higher learning. They should be required viewing for anyone considering stepping into the world of politics in this country. They did, do, and always will represent the very lowest point of American politics.
The most noteworthy moment of the McCarthy hearings took place in an exchange between Sen. Joseph McCarthy and Joseph Welch, attorney for the U.S. Army and a senior partner in the prestigious Boston law firm of Hale and Dorr.
Sen. McCarthy was no match for Mr. Welch and was clearly in the midst of a huge public relations defeat as Mr. Welch sarcastically demanded that Sen. McCarthy and (his attorney) Roy Cohn remove every Communist from every government plant before sundown.
Recognizing that he was staring defeat in the face, Sen. McCarthy resorted to trying to embarrass Mr. Welch. He accused him of trying to foist upon the committee a young lawyer with a promising career named Fred Fisher.
Mr. Fisher was a brilliant young lawyer who, while in law school, was a member of the Lawyer’s Guild. Long after Mr. Fisher left the guild, there were accusations that the guild supported Communist causes. While Mr. Fisher did not support Communist causes, and Mr. Welch never did recommend him for a position with the committee, that did not stop Sen. McCarthy from claiming otherwise.
In the middle of Mr. Welch’s questioning, Sen. McCarthy interrupted, claiming Mr. Welch brought him to Washington, D.C., as his assistant and publicly attacking Mr. Fisher, even demanding that it be reported in the press.
To this, Mr. Welch responded, “Until this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness. Fred Fisher is a young man who went to the Harvard Law School and came into my firm and is starting what looks to be a brilliant career with us.”
He then went on to explain that when Mr. Fisher advised him of his affiliation with the Lawyer’s Guild, he decided not to involve him in these hearings at all. He then uttered these memorable words: “Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator. You have done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?”
I think about those words as I read the latest literature from the Democratic candidates for Township Committee in Manalapan. There are two or three longtime Democrats in Manalapan who are notorious for having no sense of decency. They spend their days blogging while ironically falsely accusing others of blogging. They do nothing of any value to the community and spend their time attacking, engaging in character assassination, and lowering the standards of decency in our otherwise respectable and moral community. But even they did not stoop to the depths I saw this past week.
It is well-known that a young man in our community has run afoul of the law. It is tragic event. He was accused of, among other things, putting information on financial documents that was not entirely accurate. He was found guilty. It is, for that young man, a life-changing and personal tragedy. That is all it should have been.
Nothing of which he was accused found guilty related to any involvement either the Township Committee, the Monmouth County freeholders or the state government. Nothing of which he was accused had any involvement in the award of farmland preservation funds which now prevent a large farm from ever being developed precisely the purpose farmland preservation funds. Surely the Democratic candidate, a former mayor of Manalapan, is well aware that government officials legally cannot make decision as to the award of farmland preservation funds based on who owns the land, rather than on the land itself. This did not stop him from writing a nauseating letter to use this young man’s personal tragedy for his own personal ambition linking it irresponsibly and disgracefully this year’s candidates.
As for the people of Manalapan, I would hope they remember why they came Manalapan, that they remember the type atmosphere they sought for their families when leaving the city or from wherever else they migrated. I would hope they would not encourage such disturbing levels of personal vitriol by voting for a perpetrator of such mean-spirited letter.
I would hope the voters of Manalapan would demand more from their candidates, from their potential leaders. I have seen this mudslinging for far too long in this community. I have been the victim of it. I have fought against it, both as a private citizen and as an attorney.
As for the writer of that campaign literature who chose to attempt to capitalize the misfortunes of an individual, to gleefully view that misfortune as an opportunity, the words ring out, “You have done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?”
Stuart J. Moskovitz is a resident of Manalapan.