The second also occurred on national television, on March 9, 1954, when the highly respected broadcaster, Edward R. Murrow, directed an entire "See It Now" program to an exposure of McCarthy for the publicity-hungry bully he was. Using McCarthy's own words, Murrow examined and rebutted the Senator's extreme charges and methods, clearly and reasonably laying-out for his national audience the Senator's use of lies, distortions and half-truths--and their corrosive effects on our national life and international reputation.
In summing up, Murrow spoke eloquently both to his era and presciently to those of us in the far future who might be confronting similar challenges:
"This is no time," he stated, "for men who oppose Senator McCarthy's methods to keep silent.
"The actions of the junior Senator from Wisconsin have caused alarm and dismay amongst our allies abroad, and given considerable comfort to our enemies.
"We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason.
"We proclaim ourselves," Morrow concluded, "the defenders of freedom, wherever it continues to exist in the world, but we cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home."
Senator McCarthy, for all the damage he did domestically and to America's reputation abroad, did not have the power to start a war, much less risk a nuclear 'exchange.' President Trump does have that power! And now his intemperate and belligerent tweets from that much-diminished "bully pulpit" have put us all at risk.
It is past time for those in positions of responsibility and power--particularly those in the President's own party--to directly confront the challenge Trump represents in the name of the welfare of the nation and the world.
Stated bluntly: There is no room in our democracy for a bully in the pulpit!
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