Joe Welch, a man with Cape connections, discredited demagogue McCarthy. Here's how he did it -- and next, why something comparable hasn't happened now.
When I bike from Brewster to Harwichport, I occasionally stop (at least once every summer) to pay homage to Speaker Tip O'Neill, who is buried with his wife in an attractive but not at all ostentatious grave in the Mount Pleasant Cemetery, accessible from Forest St (and overlooking a golf course). Now I'm wondering if I might look for the gravesite of Joseph Welch there. Do you know where he was put to rest?
I do not, sorry to say, though he died in Hyannis at the hospital. One good online source "Find a Grave," references somewhere in Massachusetts but not more specific. He lived in Walpole for a long time so maybe there? Best, s
McCarthy died but McCarthyism didn't. To this day politicians -- especially, unfortunately but not surprisingly, too many Democrats -- are quick to dissociate themselves from "the left" and to accuse their colleagues of being "left" or even "far left" if they dare talk about structural inequality or economic justice. I'm old enough to remember when "far left" meant Marxist, Stalinist, or Maoist, all ideologies hostile to our notions of liberal democracy. We've been far, far slower to recognize ideologies from the right that were hostile to liberal democracy, even though they've been ascendant in the Republican Party at least since the Reagan administration and they've been around far longer than that. Hard as it is for some to believe, the far right has been the bigger danger all along -- and now here we are, with it in control of Congress, the White House, and the Supreme Court.
Very intereting - thanks Seth. I wonder if this bit of Hale & Dorr history played any part in WilmerHale's leadership in opposing Florida Man this time around.
CNN and George Clooney recently treated us to the live Broadway production of "Good Night and Good Luck" (without any commercial interruption) depicting Edward R Murrow's battle with McCarthy. Were these two battles coincident, or did one precede the other?
I hadn't realized the same lawyer who honed his aggressive legal strategies with McCarthy is also gave Florida Man his core lifetime competitive advantage. It fits so well! FM strategically breaks the law every day, while he uses the law aggressively for protection, to make money and to bring others down. It's the exact gangster playbook for dominance, except using the law instead of guns. Of course, all while he nudges others to ramp up the physical violence in ways that have killed and maimed, and damaged thousands of American lives.
Roy Cohn has a lot to answer for. It looks like he also introduced FM to Rupert Murdoch, who later bought Fox News and ... helped engineer our recent troubled history.
I've been waiting for a Joe Welch breakthrough moment. But I don't know how any one person can break through the noise coming from all directions and devices and platforms. Our own Congressman Bill Keating did his part by defending Congresswoman Sarah McBride, but that moment got drowned out by the firehose of nonsense and cruelty coming from the current regime. We need our own "flood the zone" strategy, but then again, legacy media really isn't interested in anything but both-sidesing, outrageous headlines, and clicks. They don't appear to be interested much in the truth or real investigative journalism anymore. Democracy is dying in broad daylight.
When I bike from Brewster to Harwichport, I occasionally stop (at least once every summer) to pay homage to Speaker Tip O'Neill, who is buried with his wife in an attractive but not at all ostentatious grave in the Mount Pleasant Cemetery, accessible from Forest St (and overlooking a golf course). Now I'm wondering if I might look for the gravesite of Joseph Welch there. Do you know where he was put to rest?
I do not, sorry to say, though he died in Hyannis at the hospital. One good online source "Find a Grave," references somewhere in Massachusetts but not more specific. He lived in Walpole for a long time so maybe there? Best, s
McCarthy died but McCarthyism didn't. To this day politicians -- especially, unfortunately but not surprisingly, too many Democrats -- are quick to dissociate themselves from "the left" and to accuse their colleagues of being "left" or even "far left" if they dare talk about structural inequality or economic justice. I'm old enough to remember when "far left" meant Marxist, Stalinist, or Maoist, all ideologies hostile to our notions of liberal democracy. We've been far, far slower to recognize ideologies from the right that were hostile to liberal democracy, even though they've been ascendant in the Republican Party at least since the Reagan administration and they've been around far longer than that. Hard as it is for some to believe, the far right has been the bigger danger all along -- and now here we are, with it in control of Congress, the White House, and the Supreme Court.
Very intereting - thanks Seth. I wonder if this bit of Hale & Dorr history played any part in WilmerHale's leadership in opposing Florida Man this time around.
CNN and George Clooney recently treated us to the live Broadway production of "Good Night and Good Luck" (without any commercial interruption) depicting Edward R Murrow's battle with McCarthy. Were these two battles coincident, or did one precede the other?
I hadn't realized the same lawyer who honed his aggressive legal strategies with McCarthy is also gave Florida Man his core lifetime competitive advantage. It fits so well! FM strategically breaks the law every day, while he uses the law aggressively for protection, to make money and to bring others down. It's the exact gangster playbook for dominance, except using the law instead of guns. Of course, all while he nudges others to ramp up the physical violence in ways that have killed and maimed, and damaged thousands of American lives.
Roy Cohn has a lot to answer for. It looks like he also introduced FM to Rupert Murdoch, who later bought Fox News and ... helped engineer our recent troubled history.
I've been waiting for a Joe Welch breakthrough moment. But I don't know how any one person can break through the noise coming from all directions and devices and platforms. Our own Congressman Bill Keating did his part by defending Congresswoman Sarah McBride, but that moment got drowned out by the firehose of nonsense and cruelty coming from the current regime. We need our own "flood the zone" strategy, but then again, legacy media really isn't interested in anything but both-sidesing, outrageous headlines, and clicks. They don't appear to be interested much in the truth or real investigative journalism anymore. Democracy is dying in broad daylight.