this is from senator margaret chase smith of maine. smith was one of the only republicans, one of the first republicans to speak up about mccarthy's investigation. she did because she was concerned about the way mccarthy had been using abusing tactics an unsubstantiated allegations. the allegations mccarthy was making could end up in ruined lives and ruined careers. >> senator i think i never really gauge yoor your recklessness. >> margaret chase smith decided to speak up about mccarthy's tactics. she gave this speech on the floor of the senate. in the speech, she decide tactics an condemned climate of fear, bigotry, smear, end quote, mccarthy created. there were a few cases of fellow republicans joined her condemnation of mccarthy at that time. mccarthy's investigations continued and later the army mccarthy hearings were televised. and it was these televised hearings where americans got to see mccarthy's abusive tactics and unsubstantiated allegations for the first time. this changed public opinion and in the view point of mcart eye a

eleanor law and republican senator margaret chase smith conducted a televised debate on behalf of presidential candidates stevenson and dwight eisenhower in 1956. on face the nation modeling the famous kennedy-nixon debates to come, she and the senator were the first women to appear on the show. this is after eleanor hosted in new york city mayoral candidate showdown on her own program in 1950, which may have been the first televised political debate. in 59, her third regular television program began airing under the guidance of producer henry morgenthau. the third, sound familiar is the son of good friend eleanor and fdr, secretary of the treasury henry morgenthau jr. prospects of mankind. rand monthly. just before eleanor's death in 1962. once again, she attracted some of the most important political and cultural figures of the era, including ralph bunche henry kissinger, luis munoz, marin edward murrow, julius nyerere, bertrand russell, adlai stevenson, paul tillich and john f kennedy both as senator and president. although she really despised jfk's father and had to be convinced to book th

margaret, you know, senator chase smith set the sort set the predicate for it. but it was also the eisenhower administration itself because it encouraged republican senators and republicans in the political system to to question and then counter in oppose. senator mccarthy. had they not done that, i think he would have been stronger and he would have been able to stay in power longer. well, jim townsend, your center is named after pretty well-known congressional investigator, senator carl levin. what kind of work did he do? and what about the levin center? well, senator levin was the longest serving senator from the state of michigan. he served six terms, 36 years and he did many, many things. but one of the things he was really focused on was doing good oversight and making sure that those lessons learned from the mccarthy era, the lessons about the importance of a bipartisan investigation, of investigations that are truly committed to finding the facts. he took those lessons to heart. and when he came to the senate in 1979, he really made it his mission to to

. >> and another senator from maine back in 1950, margaret chase smith, spoke out against joseph mccarthy, and this is what she had to say. here's a portion of her speech from 1950. i think it is high time that we remembered that we have sworn to uphold and defend the constitution. i think that it is high time that we remembered that the constitution, as amended, speaks not only of the freedom of speech but also of trial by jury instead of trial by accusation. whether it be a criminal prosecution in court or a character prosecution in the senate, there is little practical distinction when the life of a person has been ruined. so senator mccarthy did not have universal support, necessarily, among republicans. is that correct? >> that is certainly correct, and senator jay smith really deserves credit. she was the only woman in the u.s. senate at the time. and she courageously stood up and opposed mccarthy when he was really ascending in his power and influence. and, you know, what she pointed out was really something that's awfully important, and we very much need to remember now and that i