Evening star., 1953-11-26
Less Malice, More Charity


Carthy, his attack on John Patton Davies would
make an excellent starting point.
Senator Mccarthy said that the Eisenhower
administration, which he saw fit to challenge
head on, is batting zero in the Davies
case Davies, the Senator said, was "(D part
and parcel of the old Acheson baltimore
Vincent -White-Hiss group which did so much
toward delivering our Chinese friends into Com
munist hands; (2) he was unanimously referred
by the McCarran committee to the Justice
Department for indictment because he lied
under oath about his activities in trying to put
Communists and espionage agents in key spots
in the Central Intelligence Agency" And then
he asked "Why is this man still high official
in our Government"
There is a good answer to the vicious impl-
cations of this question The Loyalty Review
Board headed by the late Seth w. Richardson,
found that there was mo reasonable doubt of
the loyalty" of Mr.. Davies. Mr.. Richardson was
a Republican of staunch integrity. The tricky
implication that Mr.. Davies lied under oath
mote that Senator Mccarthy did not dare make
that charge Directly collapses in the face of
the fact that he was never indicted and, of
course, never convicted. Mr.. Davies remains
high official because this administration is
not willing to condemn him on the basis of
improved charges, and that, incidentally is one
thing we may be thankful for on this Thanks
giving Day.
It is very doubtful however, that an
attempt at detailed refutation would be reward
ing. For this malevoent speech is mass of
some truth, half-truth, Misrepresentation and
wild distortion The task of breaking it down
in detail would be endless. Furthermore, there
may be better approach-an approach which
invites attention to some of the broader impli-
cations of the speech.
Although it would be hard to think of two
more diSsimilar people, Senator Mccarthy called
upon Abraham Lincoln to support him. He
quoted the Civil War President as saying: eff
this Nation is to be destroyed, it will be
destroyed from within"
Senator Mccarthy applied this quotation to
what he regards as the threat of destruction
from within by Communists and their Sympa-
thizerS. But Abraham Lincoln was not con-
cerned with this. He was concerned with the
danger which came from American turned
against American, and if he were alive today he
surely would not be found standing at Senator
McCarthys side
We live in an age in which public debate
in the traditional sense is on the wane. 1t is
being superseded by new technique-a tech
nique which tries to make a virtue of mere
brous labels for logic, which strives to Stifle
thought by appealing to dangerous emotions.
And this technique, which Harry Truman calls
McCarthyism and which Senator Mccarthy
calls Trumanism, is more likely to destroy us
from within than anything that our domestic
Communists and their front men are capable
of doing.
There is another quotation from Abraham
Lincoln which has a clearer application to our
current plight 1t will not appeal to the eXtrav
agant partisans on both sides of the political
fight. But it may appeal to those who are not
violent partsans and who, through the work.
ings of public opinion, ultimately will determine
whether we are going to permit this new polit-
ical technique to destroy us from within. This
is the quotation:
With malice toward none; with charity for
all; with firmneSS in the right as God gives
us to see the right, let us strive on to finish
the work we are in: to bind up the Nations
wounds; to care for him who shall have borne
the battle and for his widow and for his or
phan-to do all which may achieve and cher
iSh just and lasting peace among ourselves,
and with all nations.
1t would be wholesome thing If this day
were to witness the advent in our country of
less malice and more charity, if it were to wit
ness the beginning of real peace among our
selves For we will not find peace in the world
if we insist upon warning with each other.