Quotessence
Home / Authors / Margaret Chase Smith
Margaret Chase Smith

Margaret Chase Smith Quotes

Former U.S. Senator

Filter quotes by topic

AllPeopleAmericaGovernmentPoliticsSenateCongressThinkingConstructive CriticismCriticismPolitical

Famous Margaret Chase Smith Quotes

“I think that it is high time for the United States Senate and its members to do some real soul searching and to weigh our consciences as to the manner in which we are performing our duty to the people of America and the manner in which we are using or abusing our individual powers and privileges. I think that it is high time that we remembered that we have sworn to uphold and defend the Constitution.”

GovernmentAmericaConstitutionCongressSenateAbuse Of PowerJoseph Mccarthy
Author:Margaret Chase Smith
Create image

“Mr. President, I would like to speak briefly and simply about a serious national condition. It is a national feeling of fear and frustration that could result in national suicide and the end of everything that we Americans hold dear. It is a condition that comes from the lack of effective leadership either in the legislative branch or the executive branch of our government.”

GovernmentAmericaPoliticsFearCongressFrustrationSenatePresidents
Author:Margaret Chase Smith
Create image

“As a Republican, I say to my colleagues on this side of the aisle that the Republican party faces a challenge today that is not unlike the challenge which it faced back in Lincoln's day. The Republican party so successfully met that challenge that it emerged from the Civil War as the champion of a united nation-in addition to being a party which unrelentingly fought loose spending and loose programs. Today our country is being psychologically divided by the confusion and the suspicions that are bred in the United States Senate to spread like cancerous tentacles of "know nothing, suspect everything" attitudes.”

GovernmentAmericaPoliticsCongressCivil WarSenateSuspicionRepublican PartyRepublicans
Author:Margaret Chase Smith
Create image

“Surely it is clear that this nation will continue to suffer so long as it is governed by the present ineffective Democratic administration. "THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF CALUMNY" Yet to displace it with a Republican regime embracing a philosophy that lacks political integrity or intellectual honesty would prove equally disastrous to the nation. The nation sorely needs a Republican victory. But I do not want to see the Republican party ride to political victory on the Four Horsemen of Calumny--Fear, Ignorance, Bigotry, and Smear. I doubt if the Republican party could do so, simply because I do not believe the American people will uphold any political party that puts political exploitation above national interest. Surely we Republicans are not that desperate for victory. I do not want to see the Republican party win that way. While it might be a fleeting victory for the Republican party, it would be a more lasting defeat for the American people. Surely it would ultimately be suicide for the Republican party and the two-party system that has protected our American liberties from the dictatorship of a one-party system. As members of the minority party, we do not have the primary authority to formulate the policy of our government. But we do have the responsibility of rendering constructive criticism, of clarifying issues, of allaying fears by acting as responsible citizens.”

GovernmentPoliticsResponsibilityPolitical PartiesDemocratic PartyCalumnyRepublicans Party
Author:Margaret Chase Smith
Create image

“As a United States senator, I am not proud of the way in which the Senate has been made a publicity platform for irresponsible sensationalism. I am not proud of the reckless abandon in which unproved charges have been hurled from this side of the aisle. I am not proud of the obviously staged, undignified countercharges which have been attempted in retaliation from the other side of the aisle. I do not like the way the Senate has been made a rendezvous for vilification, for selfish political gain at the sacrifice of individual reputations and national unity…. As an American, I am shocked at the way Republicans and Democrats alike are playing directly into the Communist design of "confuse, divide, and conquer." As an American, I do not want a Democratic administration "whitewash" or "coverup" any more than I want a Republican smear or witch hunt. As an American, I condemn a Republican Fascist just as much as I condemn a Democrat Communist. I condemn a Democrat Fascist just as much as I condemn a Republican Communist. They are equally dangerous to you and me and to our country. 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.”

GovernmentAmericaPoliticsUnityCommunismDivisionFascismPolitical PartiesRepublicansDemocrats
Author:Margaret Chase Smith
Create image

“It is high time that we stopped thinking politically as Republicans and Democrats about elections and started thinking patriotically as Americans about national security based on individual freedom. It is high time that we all stopped being tools and victims of totalitarian techniques-techniques that, if continued here unchecked, will surely end what we have come to cherish as the American way of life.”

GovernmentAmericaPoliticsFreedomUnityDivisionNational SecurityPolitical PartiesRepublicansDemocrats
Author:Margaret Chase Smith
Create image

“The United States Senate has long enjoyed worldwide respect as the greatest deliberative body in the world. But recently that deliberative character has too often been debased to the level of a forum of hate and character assassination sheltered by the shield of congressional immunity. It is ironical that we senators can in debate in the Senate, directly or indirectly, by any form of words, impute to any American who is not a senator any conduct or motive unworthy or unbecoming an American--and without that non-senator American having any legal redress against us--yet if we say the same thing in the Senate about our colleagues we can be stopped on the grounds of being out of order. It is strange that we can verbally attack anyone else without restraint and with full protection, and yet we hold ourselves above the same type of criticism here on the Senate floor.”

AmericaHatePoliticsCongressSenateCharacter AssassinationJoseph MccarthyVerbal Attacks
Author:Margaret Chase Smith
Create image

“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.”

PeopleHumansJobsNationsHuman BeingsPrinciplesHonorCriticismExpectedHonestlyRecognitionConsiderationServingDedicationCreedsEntitledCourtesyConstructivePublic ServiceServing OthersConstructive Criticism
Book:Declaration of conscience
Create image

“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... Otherwise none of us could call our souls our own.”

ShouldSoulPoliticalBeliefReligiousRightsCitizensExerciseCostIndependentReputationProtestCriticizeLivelihoodAmerican CitizensIndependent Thought
Author:Margaret Chase Smith
Create image

“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.”

AmericaBeliefPrinciplesRightsCriticismIndependentProtestCriticizeFreedom Of SpeechDisobedienceShoutingFreedom Of ThoughtBasicsBasic PrinciplesIndependent ThoughtCriticiseAmericanism
Book:Declaration of conscience
Create image