June 9
Emperor Nero of Rome, all on this date: 53 AD, marries his stepsister Claudia Octavia. 62 AD, executes his wife and stepsister Claudia Octavia (happy Anniversary honey, sorry but I'm having you beheaded). 68 AD, commits suicide.
1650. The Harvard Corporation is established, the first legal corporation in the Americas. It is the more important of Harvard University's two governing boards.
1934. Donald Duck makes his debut in The Wise Little Hen.
1954. Attorney Joseph Welch, special counsel to the United States Army, lashes out at Senator Joseph McCarthy during Senate hearings on whether Communism had infiltrated the Army. Welch was taking a stand defending a young attorney at his law firm. McCarthy's antics, and Welch's rebukes, were quickly spread nationally via the new medium of television.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Joseph Welch
Until this moment, Senator, I think I have 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. Little did I dream you could be so reckless and so cruel as to do an injury to that lad. It is true that he will continue to be with Hale and Dorr. It is, I regret to say, equally true that I fear he shall always bear a scar needlessly inflicted by you. If it were in my power to forgive you for your reckless cruelty I would do so. I like to think that I am a gentle man but your forgiveness will have to come from someone other than me. |
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Joseph Welch
Senator, may we not drop this? We know he belonged to the Lawyers Guild. Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator. You've done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?
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The comments drew applause from the gallary. The answer to Welch's question, of course, was that McCarthy in fact had no decency. Had never had. McCarthy had already been under fire from fellow Senators, and Welch's remarks drove the point home. Within six months he was formally censured by the Senate. Within three years he was dead, at the age of 48. The official cause of death was acute hepatitis, but it was rumored that his rampant alchoholism had finally caught up with him.
Fred Fisher, the young attorney who was slandered by McCarthy and whom Welch was defending, went on to have a brilliant legal career at Welch's law firm of Hale and Dorr, becoming a partner and serving as President of the Massachusetts Bar Association in 1973-74.
1959. The USS George Washington, the first submarine to carry ballistic missiles, is launched.