Senate Resolution 301: Censure of Senator Joseph McCarthy (1954)

Citation: Senate Resolution 301, December 2, 1954; SEN 83A-B4, Records of the United States Senate; Record Group 46; National Archives.

引用：参议院第 301 号决议，1954 年 12 月 2 日； SEN 83A-B4，美国参议院记录；记录组 46；国家档案馆。

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On December 2, 1954, the Senate voted to censure Senator Joseph McCarthy, who had led the fight in Congress to root out suspected Communists from the Federal Government.

1954 年 12 月 2 日，参议院投票谴责参议员约瑟夫·麦卡锡 (Joseph McCarthy)，他领导了国会的斗争，将可疑的共产党人从联邦政府中铲除。

The censure described his behavior as "contrary to senatorial traditions."

谴责称他的行为“违反了参议员传统”。

The early years of the Cold War saw the United States facing a hostile Soviet Union, the "loss" of China to communism, and war in Korea.

冷战初期，美国面临着敌对的苏联、中国“输给”共产主义以及朝鲜战争。

In this politically charged atmosphere, fears of Communist influence over American institutions spread easily.

在这种充满政治色彩的气氛中，对共产主义影响美国机构的担忧很容易蔓延。

On February 9, 1950, Joseph McCarthy, a Republican Senator from Wisconsin, claimed that he had a list of 205 State Department employees who were Communists.

1950 年 2 月 9 日，威斯康星州共和党参议员约瑟夫·麦卡锡声称，他有一份 205 名国务院雇员的共产党员名单。

While he offered little proof, the claims gained the Senator great notoriety.

虽然他没有提供什么证据，但这些说法却为这位参议员带来了巨大的恶名。

In June, Senator Margaret Chase Smith of Maine and six fellow Republicans issued a "Declaration of Conscience" asserting that because of McCarthy’s tactics, the Senate had been "debased to the level of a forum for hate and character assassination." However, McCarthy took advantage of the Cold War atmosphere of fear and suspicion and with strong support in the opinion polls, McCarthy’s attacks and interventions in senatorial elections brought defeat to some of his party’s Democratic opponents.

六月，缅因州参议员玛格丽特·蔡斯·史密斯和六名共和党同僚发表了一份“良心宣言”，声称由于麦卡锡的策略，参议院已经“堕落到仇恨和人格暗杀论坛的水平”。然而，麦卡锡利用冷战时期的恐惧和猜疑气氛，在民意调查中的大力支持下，对参议员选举进行攻击和干预，导致本党的一些民主党对手惨败。

After Republicans took control of the White House and Congress in 1953, McCarthy was named chairman of the Committee on Government Operations and its Subcommittee on Investigations.

1953年共和党控制白宫和国会后，麦卡锡被任命为政府运作委员会及其调查小组委员会主席。

From these posts he continued to accuse Government agencies of being "soft" on communism, but he was now attacking a Republican administration.

在这些帖子中，他继续指责政府机构对共产主义“软弱”，但他现在正在攻击共和党政府。

In 1954 McCarthy’s investigation of security threats in the U.S. Army was televised.

1954 年，麦卡锡对美国陆军安全威胁的调查进行了电视转播。

McCarthy’s bullying of witnesses turned public opinion against the Senator.

麦卡锡欺凌证人的行为导致公众舆论反对这位参议员。

On December 2, 1954, the Senate voted to censure him, describing his behavior as "contrary to senatorial traditions."

1954年12月2日，参议院投票谴责他，称他的行为“违背了参议员传统”。

Republican Senators Ralph Flanders of Vermont, Arthur Watkins of Utah, and Margaret Chase Smith of Maine led the efforts to discipline McCarthy.

佛蒙特州的共和党参议员拉尔夫·弗兰德斯、犹他州的阿瑟·沃特金斯和缅因州的玛格丽特·蔡斯·史密斯领导了对麦卡锡进行纪律处分的努力。

Flanders introduced two separate resolutions against McCarthy, one removing McCarthy from his chairmanships and the other calling for his censure.

弗兰德斯提出了两项​​针对麦卡锡的单独决议，一项是取消麦卡锡的主席职务，另一项是要求对他进行谴责。

The censure resolution moved forward with debate beginning July 30, 1954.

谴责决议的辩论从 1954 年 7 月 30 日开始进行。

The full Senate took up the resolution on November 5.

参议院全体会议于 11 月 5 日审议了该决议。

This copy of the resolution catches the debate on November 9 as the Senate refined the wording of its resolution.

这份决议副本记录了 11 月 9 日参议院修改决议措辞时的辩论。

The substance of the first count, charging McCarthy with failure to cooperate with a Senate subcommittee, remained unchanged in the final resolution.

第一项指控的实质内容，即指控麦卡锡未能与参议院小组委员会合作，在最终决议中保持不变。

The second count was dropped for a condemnation of McCarthy’s attacks on the very members of the committee that considered his censure.

第二项指控因谴责麦卡锡对审议他的谴责的委员会成员的攻击而被撤销。

This document is available on DocsTeach, the online tool for teaching with documents from the National Archives.

该文档可在 DocsTeach 上找到，这是一个使用国家档案馆文档进行教学的在线工具。

Find teaching activities that incorporate this document, or create your own online activity .

查找包含本文档的教学活动，或创建您自己的在线活动。

Resolved, That the Senator from Wisconsin, Mr. McCarthy, failed to cooperate with the Subcommittee on Privileges and Elections of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration in clearing up matters referred to that subcommittee which concerned his conduct as a Senator and affected the honor of the Senate and, instead, repeatedly abused the subcommittee and its members who were trying to carry out assigned duties, thereby obstructing the constitutional processes of the Senate, and that this conduct of the Senator from Wisconsin, Mr. McCarthy, is contrary to senatorial traditions and is hereby condemned.

决议，来自威斯康星州的参议员麦卡锡先生未能与参议院规则和行政委员会的特权和选举小组委员会合作，以清理提交给该小组委员会的涉及他作为参议员的行为并影响参议院荣誉的事项，反而屡屡辱骂该小组委员会及其试图履行指定职责的成员，从而阻碍了参议院的宪法程序，参议院的这一行为威斯康星州参议员麦卡锡先生违背参议员传统，特此予以谴责。

Sec 2.

第二节。

The Senator from Wisconsin, Mr. McCarthy, in writing to the chairman of the Select Committee to Study Censure Charges (Mr. Watkins) after the Select Committee had issued its report and before the report was presented to the Senate charging three members of the Select Committee with "deliberate deception" and "fraud" for failure to disqualify themselves; in stating to the press on November 4, 1954, that the special Senate session that was to begin November 8, 1954, was a "lynch-party"; in repeatedly describing this special Senate session as a "lynch bee" in a nationwide television and radio show on November 7, 1954; in stating to the public press on November 13, 1954, that the chairman of the Select Committee (Mr. Watkins) was guilty of "the most unusual, most cowardly things I've ever heard of" and stating further: "I expected he would be afraid to answer the questions, but didn't think he'd be stupid enough to make a public statement"; and in characterizing the said committee as the "unwitting handmaiden," "involuntary agent" and "attorneys-in-fact" of the Communist Party and in charging that the said committee in writing its report "imitated Communist methods -- that it distorted, misrepresented, and omitted in its effort to manufacture a plausible rationalization" in support of its recommendations to the Senate, which characterizations and charges were contained in a statement released to the press and inserted in the Congressional Record of November 10, 1954, acted contrary to senatorial ethics and tended to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute, to obstruct the constitutional processes of the Senate, and to impair its dignity; and such conduct is hereby condemned.

威斯康星州参议员麦卡锡先生在特别委员会发表报告后、在报告提交给参议院之前致函特别委员会主席（沃特金斯先生），指控特别委员会的三名成员因未能取消自己的资格而犯有“故意欺骗”和“欺诈”罪； 1954年11月4日向新闻界表示，将于1954年11月8日开始的参议院特别会议是一场“私刑派对”； 1954 年 11 月 7 日，在全国电视和广播节目中多次将这次参议院特别会议描述为“私刑蜂”； 1954 年 11 月 13 日向公众媒体表示，特别委员会主席（沃特金斯先生）犯下了“我听过的最不寻常、最胆怯的事情”，并进一步指出：“我原以为他会害怕回答问题，但没想到他会愚蠢到发表公开声明”；并将该委员会描述为共产党的“不知情的婢女”、“非自愿代理人”和“事实上的律师”，并指控该委员会在撰写其报告时“模仿了共产主义的方法——歪曲、误述和遗漏了其努力制造合理化的理由”以支持其向参议院提出的建议，这些描述和指控包含在向新闻界发布的一份声明中，并插入11月的国会记录中1954 年 10 月 10 日，其行为违反了参议院道德，并倾向于使参议院蒙羞和名誉扫地，阻碍参议院的宪法程序，并损害其尊严；特此谴责此类行为。