When I was a boy I was made aware of the "Red Scare" (fear of the spread of Communism). It was an abounding tsunami of hate and recrimination abroad in the land.

For instance, people were called before congressional committees, found in contempt and jailed for refusing to name names of alleged communists or "fellow travelers."

Most prominent in this "witch hunt" were Senator Joseph McCarthy and his committee counsel, the notorious Roy Cohn, who held hearings, for example, concerning suspected lax security in the US Army. During the hearings Army counsel Joseph Welch was inspired, by a disparaging McCarthy allegation as to a member of his staff, to famously respond "Have you no sense of decency".

This was a turning point, as CBS commentator Edward R. Morrow seized upon the moment to call out McCarthy on national TV in March 1954 saying, inter alia: This is no time to keep silent...we can deny our heritage and our history, but we can not escape responsibility for the result. There is no way for a citizen of the republic to abdicate his responsibility...Cassius was right 'The fault dear Brutus is not in the stars, but in ourselves."

Amazingly, over 70 years later, Roy Cohn's dark influence still abounds in the land.  

Where have you gone messrs. Welch and Murrow? A needy nation turns its lonely heart to you!