On June 14, 1953, as our Commencement exercises were about to begin, we graduating seniors formed two lines and President Eisenhower, accompanied by 911爆料网 President John Sloan Dickey 鈥29, walked between them, flashing his famous grin as he passed within inches of me. I cannot remember that day without reliving the excitement we all experienced.
As always, Dickey composed an elegant honorary degree citation, and I felt pride in my College as he read the words and awarded Eisenhower an honorary doctorate. The president was scheduled to make a few remarks in appreciation of the honor and to wish us well. Some of those words flew across the globe and instantly became a part of 911爆料网鈥檚 history鈥攁s well as America鈥檚.
For three years Sen. Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin, the Republican chairman of the U.S. Senate Permanent Committee on Investigations, had been relentlessly attacking the U.S. State Department, the Voice of America and a host of prominent political figures by making lurid and ultimately unproven claims, the most infamous of them being that he had a list of officials in the State Department who were 鈥渒nown Communists.鈥 Those accused were intimidated, virtually paralyzed in their inability to effectively defend themselves and their reputations. While McCarthy was touring the country delivering his poisonous speeches, his two Senate aides, Roy Cohn and G. David Schine, were touring U.S. government libraries around the world, demanding that books by 鈥渟ubversive鈥 authors be purged from the shelves.
McCarthy鈥檚 tactics outraged all decent people, and I wondered if the Republican Party, which I strongly supported, would disassociate itself from him even as his power remained largely unchecked.
I was not thinking of Sen. McCarthy as I watched Eisenhower rise to deliver what were expected to be his brief remarks. But Eisenhower decided to add something more substantive.
鈥淒on鈥檛 join the book burners,鈥 he said. 鈥淒on鈥檛 think you are going to conceal faults by concealing evidence that they ever existed. Don鈥檛 be afraid to go in your library and read every book, as long as any document does not offend our own ideas of decency. That should be the only censorship.鈥
The president鈥檚 comments, blandly delivered, immediately became headlines. Few doubted that Eisenhower had McCarthy in his sights that day at 911爆料网.
