PILGRIMS OF HOPE
MARGARET CHASE SMITH

By Brother Patrick

They called her Lady Smith. During her long life, she was awarded ninety-five honorary degrees from colleges and universities around the world. She was awarded this nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She was the first woman ever nominated for president at a major party’s national convention. She was the first woman ever elected to both houses of the United States Congress. And in 1950, she was among the first members of the United States Senate to condemn the tactics of Joseph McCarthy, a demagogue who ruined countless lives by making public accusations of treason and subversion with little or no evidence. She was Senator Margaret Chase Smith of Maine.

Margaret Chase was born in 1897 into a working class family in Skowhegan, a small town on the Kennebec River. As a young adult, she worked as a coach, teacher, journalist, and business executive. In 1930, she married Clyde Smith. In 1936, she became her husband’s secretary when he was elected to the United States House of Representatives. In 1940, Congressman Chase died of a heart attack. Later that year, Margaret Chase Smith won both a special election and then a general election to succeed her husband in the Congress.

As a legislator, Margaret Chase Smith’s list of accomplishments is long and impressive. She was a strong supporter of the New Deal. She introduced a bill that created the United States Women’s Naval Reserves, earning her the nickname: “Mother of the WAVES.” She introduced a bill that enabled women to serve as permanent members of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps. Senator Smith was also a strong supporter of the space program. James Webb, the NASA administrator, once said that America would not have landed a man on the moon without her support.

Between 1949 and 1973, she never missed a vote — casting 2,941 consecutive roll call votes, a record for the time. Late in life, Senator Smith said: “If I am to be remembered in history, it will not be because of legislative accomplishments, but for an act I took…in the United States Senate, when on June 1, 1950, I spoke in condemnation of McCarthyism.” 

As the powerful chair of the Government Operations Committee, which had jurisdiction over the entire federal government, Senator Joseph McCarthy (1908-1957) used fear, gossip, and rumormongering in an effort to uncover communist subversion and espionage. In response, Senator Smith took to the floor and delivered remarks that are remembered as the Declaration of Conscience.

It was a fifteen minute speech that never mentioned McCarthy by name. But Senator Smith criticized her party and its leadership for not holding McCarthy responsible for his tactics. She condemned her party’s strategy of riding to victory on what she called the Four Horsemen of Calumny: Fear, Smear, Bigotry, and Ignorance. She denounced “the reckless abandon in which unproved charges have been hurled” at American diplomats, intellectuals, and government employees.

In a soft but courageous voice, Senator Margaret Chase Smith then declared: “It is high time for the United States Senate and its members to do some soul-searching, for us to weigh our consciences, on the manner in which we are performing our duty to the people of America, on the manner in which we are using and abusing our individual powers and privileges. It is high time that we remembered that we have sworn to uphold and defend the Constitution. 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.”

Senator Smith went on to criticize the hypocrisy of McCarthy and his dark allies. She said: “Those of us who shout the loudest about Americanism in making character assassinations are all too frequently those who, by our own words and acts, 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. The exercise of these rights should not cost one single American citizen his reputation or his right to a livelihood nor should he be in danger of losing his reputation of livelihood merely because he happens to know someone who holds unpopular beliefs.”

Senator Smith then turned her attention to the deep divisions being caused in America as a result of McCarthy’s polarizing politics. She said: “The American people are sick and tired of being afraid to speak their minds. The American people are sick and tired of seeing innocent people smeared and guilty people whitewashed. Our country is being psychologically divided by the confusion and suspicion that are being bred…to spread like cancerous tentacles of ‘know nothing, suspect everything’ attitudes.” Finally, Senator Smith spoke of unity. She said: “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.”

In 1972, Senator Smith was defeated in her bid for a fifth term. She retired to her hometown and began work on founding the Margaret Chase Smith Library which opened in 1982. She spent her final years at home where I was blessed to meet her and talk with her some months before her death on Memorial Day 1995. For the people of Maine and in the hearts of all people of goodwill and good conscience, Margaret Chase Smith is remembered as a quiet yet prophetic and powerful voice. A voice of fairness. A voice of principle. A voice of unity.

Pope Francis once said: “Conscience is the interior place for listening to the truth, for listening to goodness, and for listening to God. It is the inner place of our relationship with God, the one who speaks to our hearts and helps us to discern, to understand the way we must take…to go forward, to stay faithful (6-30-13).” Now more than ever, we long for leaders who speak from this interior place where truth and goodness prevail. We long for leaders who lead from the heart, from the core of their being, in pursuit of the common good, in pursuit of what is good and just and right.

Margaret Chase Smith is lauded as a champion of conscience. She is remembered as a defender of democracy. She is revered as a pilgrim of hope. Glory to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen. Saint Francis of Assisi, pray for us! Saint Clare of Assisi, pray for us! Our Lady of the Angels, pray for us! Pope Francis, pray for us!

Watch: Interview with Margaret Chase Smith (1994)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Brother Patrick Garvey is co-founder and spiritual director of the Assisi Project. He is a graduate of the University of Southern Maine, Saint John Seminary, and the Catholic University of America. He is a writer, spiritual director, retreat leader, and university lecturer. He also serves as an Associate Minister in the Catholic Community of Gloucester & Rockport in Massachusetts. On October 3, 2023, the Feast of the Transitus of Saint Francis of Assisi, Brother Patrick was consecrated as a diocesan hermit by Bishop Mark O’Connell, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Boston. For more information about the Assisi Project and our ministries with adults of all ages and backgrounds, please contact Brother Patrick at brpatrick@assisiproject.com.

Art Credit: Margaret Chase Smith – M282BW – Alamy

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ABOUT US

Founded in 2007, the Assisi Project is a Fellowship of Franciscans in Spirit with friends and followers throughout the world. We are dedicated to helping Christian believers of all ages more faithfully live the Gospel of Christ in the spirit of Saint Francis and Saint Clare of Assisi. The Assisi Project is a non-profit, tax exempt charitable organization. Please support our ministry via Pay Pal (see link below) or mail a tax-deductible donation to the Assisi Project, Post Office Box 3158, Gloucester, Massachusetts 01931-3158. The Assisi Project Podcast is produced by the Assisi Project, Inc. Copyright 2023. All rights reserved. May the Lord give you peace!

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In Memory of Margaret Chase Smith (1897-1995)