McCarthy Hearings. Political Climate of the 1950's

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTwDUpbQHJg

This week i have chosen to find a video about the McCarthy hearings and discuss it. I have chosen the Army vs McCarthy case because I believe that it is a defining moment in history for these trials. Within this video, it is a man with the last name Welsh, speaking and McCarthy also speaking. It is a back and forth arguement, but you can tell that McCarthy demands the attention of the room when he speaks. It is a very dominant personality, which is why I find the end to be so shocking.

This was a heated trial, but it was the beginning of the end. This trial is when people stopped listening to McCarthy's controlling arguements. During this trial, I believe people began fighting back and showing McCarthy's true character. At one point, Mr. Welsh said to Senator McCarthy," Senator, you won't need anything in the record when I finish telling you this. Until this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty, or your recklessness." (http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/welch-mccarthy.html) This is a stunning statement to McCarthy, but welcomed by the court room. This is very much like The Crucible because the recklessness of the Salem witch trial, was ignored. In this story, no one made a statement quite like this one to help the people come to their senses. In the end of the video, Mr. Welsh gets an applause from the court room after telling Senator McCarthy, "and if there is a God in heaven, it will do neither you nor your cause any good. I will not discuss it further. I will not ask, Mr. Cohn, any more witnesses." I secretly cheered in my head when I heard this.