Margaret Chase Smith
Margaret Chase Smith
Margaret Madeline Chase Smith was an American politician. A member of the Republican Party, she served as a U.S Representativeand a U.S. Senatorfrom Maine. She was the first woman to serve in both houses of the United States Congress, and the first woman to represent Maine in either. A moderate Republican, she is perhaps best remembered for her 1950 speech, "Declaration of Conscience," in which she criticized the tactics of McCarthyism...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth14 December 1897
CountryUnited States of America
Margaret Chase Smith quotes about
Those of us who shout the loudest about Americanism, are all too frequently those who . . . ignore some of the basic principles of Americanism-the right to criticize, the right to hold unpopular beliefs, the right to protest, the right of independent thought.
When people keep telling you that you can't do a thing, you kind of like to try it.
The right way is not always the popular and easy way. Standing for right when it is unpopular is a true test of moral character.
Public service must be more than doing a job efficiently and honestly. It must be a complete dedication to the people and to the nation.
The American people are sick and tired of being afraid to speak their minds lest they be politically smeared as 'Communists' or 'Fascists' by their opponents. Freedom of speech is not what it used to be in America. It has been so abused by some that it is not exercised by others.
Women administer the home. They set the rules, enforce them, mete out justice for violations. Thus, like Congress, they legislate; like the Executive, they administer; like the courts, they interpret the rules. It is an ideal experience for politics.
Every human being is entitled to courtesy and consideration. Constructive criticism is not only to be expected but sought.
My creed is that public service must be more than doing a job efficiently and honestly. It must be a complete dedication to the people and to the nation with full recognition that every human being is entitled to courtesy and consideration, that constructive criticism is not only to be expected but sought, that smears are not only to be expected but fought, that honor is to be earned, not bought.
One of the basic causes for all the trouble in the world today is that people talk too much and think too little. They act impulsively without thinking. I always try to think before I talk.
We should not permit tolerance to degenerate into indifference.
Surely the United States Senate is big enough to take self-criticism and self-appraisal. Surely we should be able to take the same kind of character attacks that we "dish out" to outsiders.
Freedom unexercised may be freedom forfeited. The preservation of freedom is in the hands of the people themselves - not of the government.
As an American, I want to see our nation recapture the strength and unity it once had when we fought the enemy instead of ourselves.
Freedom unexercised may become freedom forfeited.