Declaration of Conscience

The Declaration of Conscience was a speech made by U.S. Senator Margaret Chase Smith on June 1, 1950, less than four months after Senator Joe McCarthy's "Wheeling Speech," on February 9, 1950. Her speech was endorsed by six other liberal-to-moderate Republicans. In it, she criticized national leadership and called for the country, the United States Senate, and the Republican Party to re-examine the tactics used by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) and (without naming him) Senator Joe McCarthy. She stated the basic principles of "Americanism" were:

Smith voiced concern that those who exercised those beliefs at that time risked unfairly being labeled communist or fascist.

In the Declaration of Conscience, Smith said,

The other Senators who signed onto the Declaration were Wayne Morse of Oregon, George Aiken of Vermont, Edward Thye of Minnesota, Irving Ives of New York, Charles Tobey of New Hampshire, and Robert C. Hendrickson of New Jersey. While the initial reception was chilly, the full-fledged outbreak of the Korean War on June 25, 1950 had made it unlikely that Smith's views would prevail. The only signatory whose outrage remained undimmed was Wayne Morse, who eventually left the party, first becoming an independent, then a Democrat.

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