“Forgotten Hollywood”- Paraphrasing Joseph N. Welch…

Posted on December 8, 2015 by raideoman1 | No Comments

Manny P. here…

1383112548_joseph-n.-welch-18901960<— Joseph N. Welch was the chief counsel for the United States Army while it was under investigation for Communist activities by Senator Joseph McCarthy’s Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, also known as the Army-McCarthy Hearings. Welch stood down McCarthy, and his confrontation led to the downfall of the Wisconsin senator, and his eventual censure for contempt and abuse of the Senate. Welch’s new-found celebrity led to a role as the trial judge in Anatomy of a Murder in 1959. He received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actorand a BAFTA Award for the role. He suddenly died a year later of a heart attack.

   We need a Joseph N. Welch with his folksy candor to ramp down the rhetoric espoused by Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump. His daily diatribe has included attacks on Latinos, women, the disabled, and most recently, Muslims. His spewing of xenophobia is tapping into the worst fears of some Americans. In a consummate Hollywood-and-Vine moment, here is what Joseph N. Welch might have shared with Trump if he was alive and given the opportunity to confront him face-to-face:

800px-Joseph_McCarthy   Donald_Trump_by_Gage_Skidmore_4

JOSEPH McCARTHY               DONALD TRUMP

Until this moment, I think I have never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness… Little did I dream you could be so reckless and so cruel as to do an injury… If it were in my power to forgive you for your reckless cruelty I would do so. I like to think I am a gentleman, but your forgiveness will have to come from someone other than me.

May we not drop this? Let us not assassinate [these groups]  further. You’ve done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?

I will not discuss this further with you. You have sat within six feet of me. You have seen fit to bring it out. And, if there is a God in Heaven, it will do neither you nor your cause any good. I will not discuss it further.

  Where is someone like Joseph N. Welch in 2015…

Until next time>                               “never forget”

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 8th, 2015 at 6:25 pm and is filed under Blog by Manny Pacheco. You can follow any comments to this post through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.


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