Joseph N. Welch
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Joseph Nye Welch | |
| Born | October 22, 1890 Primghar, Iowa |
|---|---|
| Died | October 6, 1960 (aged 69) Cape Cod Hospital Hyannis, Massachusetts |
| Education | Grinnell College (1914) Harvard Law School (1917) |
| Known for | Army-McCarthy Hearings |
| Spouse(s) | Judith Lydon (c1890-1956) |
Joseph Nye Welch (October 22, 1890 – October 6, 1960) was the head counsel for the United States Army while it was under investigation by Joseph McCarthy's Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations for Communist activities. This investigation, which was known as the Army-McCarthy Hearings, was underway when television was first becoming a common fixture in United States households. This was the first time many Americans were able to see McCarthy.
Contents |
[edit] Early Life
He was born in Primghar, Iowa on October 22, 1890 as the seventh and youngest child of English immigrants.[1] He attended Grinnell College and graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1914, then attended Harvard Law School and graduated in 1917, with the second highest GPA in his graduating class.[1] Welch married in 1917 and had two sons.[2]
[edit] Career
On June 9, 1954, the 30th day of the hearings, McCarthy accused Fred Fisher, one of the junior attorneys at Welch's firm, of association (while in law school) with the National Lawyers Guild (NLG), a group which J. Edgar Hoover sought to have the U.S. Attorney General designate as a Communist front organization (see Army-McCarthy hearings). Welch wrote off Fisher's association with the NLG as a youthful indiscretion and went after McCarthy for dragging the young man's name before a nationwide television audience with no prior warning or previous agreement to do so:
- "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...(L)ittle 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 (Welch's law firm). 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."
When McCarthy tried to go on the attack once more, Welch stepped in again and famously rebuked:
- "Senator, may we not drop this? We know he belonged to the Lawyers Guild...Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator. You have done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?"
McCarthy tried to ask Welch another question about Fisher, and Welch cut him off:
- "Mr. McCarthy, I will not discuss this with you further. You have sat within six feet of me and could have asked about Fred Fisher. You have brought it out. 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 questions. You, Mr. Chairman, may, if you will, call the next witness."
At that point, the gallery erupted in applause. These proceedings have been recorded in the documentary film Point of Order! (1964). The title is taken from a phrase that was repeated often by McCarthy during the hearings.
His wife, Judith Lydon, died in 1956, and he remarried in 1957.[2] Welch was a partner at Hale and Dorr, a Boston law firm, and lived in nearby Walpole, Massachusetts for over two decades. Welch played a criminal court judge in northern Michigan in Otto Preminger's Anatomy of a Murder (1959). He took the part "because it looked like that was the only way I'd ever get to be a judge."[1] He received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor for the role.[3] He also narrated the television shows Omnibus and Dow Hour of Great Mysteries.[1]
[edit] Death
He died on October 6, 1960 at Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis.[4][1]
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e "Died.". Time (magazine). October 17, 1960. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,895030,00.html. Retrieved on 2008-07-28. "Joseph Nye Welch, 69, Iowa-born Boston barrister who on coast-to-coast TV gently and repeatedly needled the late Senator Joseph McCarthy into fury during the 1954 Army-McCarthy hearings; of a heart attack; in Hyannis, Mass."
- ^ a b "Joseph Nye Welch". Jrank. http://law.jrank.org/pages/11264/Welch-Joseph-Nye.html. Retrieved on 2008-07-28.
- ^ "Awards for Anatomy of a Murder". IMDB. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052561/awards.
- ^ "Joseph N. Welch, Army Counsel In McCarthy Hearings, Is Dead; Lawyer Gained Nation-Wide Prominence at Televised Proceedings in 1954.". New York Times. October 7, 1960. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F20614FF3C5C1A728DDDAE0894D8415B808AF1D3. Retrieved on 2008-07-28. "Joseph N. Welch, the Boston lawyer whose dry wit and keen legal mind gained him nationwide prominence in the televised Army-McCarthy hearings six years ago, died today at Cape Cod Hospital."
[edit] External links
- video of famous exchange with McCarthy.
- Joseph N. Welch at the Internet Movie Database
- McCarthy-Welch Exchange: "Have You No Sense of Decency" (transcript and sound file)
- History of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr
- Joseph Welch on the cover of Life Magazine
 |
This American law-related biographical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
