Joseph Welch
Encyclopedia
Joseph Nye Welch was the head counsel for the United States Army
while it was under investigation by Joseph McCarthy
's Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations for Communist activities, an investigation known as the Army-McCarthy Hearings
.
on October 22, 1890, the seventh and youngest child of English immigrants. He attended Grinnell College
and graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1914, then attended Harvard Law School
and graduated in 1917, with the second highest GPA in his graduating class. Welch married Judith Lyndon on September 20, 1917. They had two sons, Joe and Lyndon.
Beginning in 1923, Welch was a partner
at Hale and Dorr
, a Boston
law firm, and lived in nearby Walpole, Massachusetts
.
, one of the junior attorneys at Welch's law firm, of associating while in law school with the National Lawyers Guild
(NLG), a group which J. Edgar Hoover
sought to have the U.S. Attorney General designate as a Communist front
organization. Welch dismissed Fisher's association with the NLG as a youthful indiscretion and attacked McCarthy for naming the young man before a nationwide television audience without prior warning or previous agreement to do so:
When McCarthy tried to renew his attack, Welch interrupted him:
McCarthy tried to ask Welch another question about Fisher, and Welch cut him off:
The gallery erupted in applause.
on Cape Cod
, where he lived until his death.
Welch played a criminal court judge in northern Michigan in Otto Preminger
's Anatomy of a Murder
(1959
). He said he took the role "because it looked like that was the only way I'd ever get to be a judge." He was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture and a BAFTA Award for Best Newcomer
for the role. He also narrated the television shows Omnibus and Dow Hour of Great Mysteries
.
in Hyannis
, Massachusetts.
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
while it was under investigation by Joseph McCarthy
Joseph McCarthy
Joseph Raymond "Joe" McCarthy was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957...
's Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations for Communist activities, an investigation known as the Army-McCarthy Hearings
Army-McCarthy Hearings
The Army–McCarthy hearings were a series of hearings held by the United States Senate's Subcommittee on Investigations between April 1954 and June 1954. The hearings were held for the purpose of investigating conflicting accusations between the United States Army and Senator Joseph McCarthy...
.
Early life
Welch was born in Primghar, IowaPrimghar, Iowa
As of the census of 2000, there were 891 people, 391 households, and 233 families residing in the city. The population density was 643.9 people per square mile . There were 437 housing units at an average density of 315.8 per square mile...
on October 22, 1890, the seventh and youngest child of English immigrants. He attended Grinnell College
Grinnell College
Grinnell College is a private liberal arts college in Grinnell, Iowa, U.S. known for its strong tradition of social activism. It was founded in 1846, when a group of pioneer New England Congregationalists established the Trustees of Iowa College....
and graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1914, then attended Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...
and graduated in 1917, with the second highest GPA in his graduating class. Welch married Judith Lyndon on September 20, 1917. They had two sons, Joe and Lyndon.
Beginning in 1923, Welch was a partner
Partnership
A partnership is an arrangement where parties agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests.Since humans are social beings, partnerships between individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments, and varied combinations thereof, have always been and remain commonplace...
at Hale and Dorr
Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr
Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, which also goes by the shorter market name WilmerHale, is an American law firm with twelve offices across the USA, Europe and Asia. It was created in 2004 through the merger of the Boston-based firm Hale and Dorr and the Washington-based firm Wilmer Cutler...
, a Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
law firm, and lived in nearby Walpole, Massachusetts
Walpole, Massachusetts
Walpole is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. It is located about south of Boston and north of Providence, Rhode Island. The population was 24,070 at the 2010 census. Walpole was first settled in 1659 and was considered a part of Dedham until officially incorporated in 1724...
.
Army-McCarthy hearings
On June 9, 1954, the 30th day of the Army-McCarthy Hearings, McCarthy accused Fred FisherFred Fisher (lawyer)
Frederick George Fisher, Jr., was an American lawyer who first entered the public eye in connection with Senator Joseph McCarthy.-Biography:...
, one of the junior attorneys at Welch's law firm, of associating while in law school with the National Lawyers Guild
National Lawyers Guild
The National Lawyers Guild is an advocacy group in the United States "dedicated to the need for basic and progressive change in the structure of our political and economic system . ....
(NLG), a group which J. Edgar Hoover
J. Edgar Hoover
John Edgar Hoover was the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States. Appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation—predecessor to the FBI—in 1924, he was instrumental in founding the FBI in 1935, where he remained director until his death in 1972...
sought to have the U.S. Attorney General designate as a Communist front
Communist front
A Communist front organization is an organization identified to be a front organization under the effective control of a Communist party, the Communist International or other Communist organizations. Lenin originated the idea in his manifesto of 1902, "What Is to Be Done?"...
organization. Welch dismissed Fisher's association with the NLG as a youthful indiscretion and attacked McCarthy for naming the young man before a nationwide television audience without prior warning or previous agreement to do so:
- Until this moment, Senator, I think I have never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness. Fred Fisher is a young man who went to the Harvard Law SchoolHarvard Law SchoolHarvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...
and came into my firm and is starting what looks to be a brilliant career with us. Little did I dream you could be so reckless and so cruel as to do an injury to that lad. It is true that he will continue to be with Hale and Dorr. It is, I regret to say, equally true that I fear he shall always bear a scar needlessly inflicted by you. If it were in my power to forgive you for your reckless cruelty I would do so. I like to think that I am a gentle man but your forgiveness will have to come from someone other than me.
When McCarthy tried to renew his attack, Welch interrupted him:
- Senator, may we not drop this? We know he belonged to the Lawyers Guild. Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator. You've done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?
McCarthy tried to ask Welch another question about Fisher, and Welch cut him off:
- Mr. McCarthy, I will not discuss this further with you. You have sat within six feet of me and could ask – could have asked me about Fred Fisher. You have seen fit to bring it out. And if there is a God in Heaven it will do neither you nor your cause any good. I will not discuss it further. I will not ask Mr. Cohn any more questions. You, Mr. Chairman, may, if you will, call the next witness.
The gallery erupted in applause.
Later life
His wife, Judith Lyndon, died on December 21, 1956, and he married Agnes Rodgers Brown in 1957. After remarrying, he moved to Harwich Port, MassachusettsHarwich Port, Massachusetts
Harwich Port is an affluent beach resort census-designated place in the town of Harwich in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. The village is a very popular vacation spot on Cape Cod. The population was 1,809 at the 2000 census. In addition to the village of Harwich Port, the village...
on Cape Cod
Cape Cod
Cape Cod, often referred to locally as simply the Cape, is a cape in the easternmost portion of the state of Massachusetts, in the Northeastern United States...
, where he lived until his death.
Welch played a criminal court judge in northern Michigan in Otto Preminger
Otto Preminger
Otto Ludwig Preminger was an Austro–Hungarian-American theatre and film director.After moving from the theatre to Hollywood, he directed over 35 feature films in a five-decade career. He rose to prominence for stylish film noir mysteries such as Laura and Fallen Angel...
's Anatomy of a Murder
Anatomy of a Murder
Anatomy of a Murder is a 1959 American courtroom crime drama film. It was directed by Otto Preminger and adapted by Wendell Mayes from the best-selling novel of the same name written by Michigan Supreme Court Justice John D. Voelker under the pen name Robert Traver...
(1959
1959 in film
The year 1959 in film involved some significant events, with Ben-Hur winning a record 11 Academy Awards.-Events:* The Three Stooges make their 190th and last short film, Sappy Bull Fighters....
). He said he took the role "because it looked like that was the only way I'd ever get to be a judge." He was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture and a BAFTA Award for Best Newcomer
BAFTA Award for Best Newcomer
-Best British Director, Producer or Writer in the First Film:*2006 - Red Road - Andrea Arnold**Black Sun – Gary Tarn**Pierrepoint – Christine Langan**London to Brighton – Paul Andrew Williams...
for the role. He also narrated the television shows Omnibus and Dow Hour of Great Mysteries
Dow Hour of Great Mysteries
The Dow Hour of Great Mysteries, was a series of seven television specials hosted by Joseph Nye Welch that were aired in 1960.-Episodes:*Episode 1: The Bat; Mary Roberts Rinehart; 31 March 1960*Episode 2: The Burning Court John Dickson Carr; 24 April 1960...
.
Death
He suffered a heart attack and died on October 6, 1960 at Cape Cod HospitalCape Cod Hospital
Cape Cod Hospital is a not-for-profit regional medical center located in Hyannis, Massachusetts. Founded in 1920, as of 2011 it is the largest hospital on Cape Cod. The current administration is headed by CEO Michael K. Lauf....
in Hyannis
Hyannis, Massachusetts
Hyannis is the largest of seven villages in Barnstable, Massachusetts. Also it is the commercial and transportation hub of Cape Cod and was designated an urban area as a result of the 1990 census. Because of this, many refer to Hyannis as the "Capital of the Cape"...
, Massachusetts.
Later references
- The documentary filmDocumentary filmDocumentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
Point of Order! (1964) includes excerpts from the Army-McCarthy Hearings.
- R.E.M.R.E.M.R.E.M. was an American rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry. One of the first popular alternative rock bands, R.E.M. gained early attention due to Buck's ringing, arpeggiated guitar style and Stipe's...
sampled some of the audio in the song 'Exhuming McCarthy'.
- The 2005 film Good Night and Good Luck, which dramatized the work of television journalists Edward R. MurrowEdward R. MurrowEdward Roscoe Murrow, KBE was an American broadcast journalist. He first came to prominence with a series of radio news broadcasts during World War II, which were followed by millions of listeners in the United States and Canada.Fellow journalists Eric Sevareid, Ed Bliss, and Alexander Kendrick...
and Fred Friendly at CBSCBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
, uses footage of the Army-McCarthy Hearings, including Welch's challenge to the Senator.