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Lily King is a writer in Maine. Derek Pierce is a Maine educator.
As we approach the 75th anniversary of Sen. Margaret Chase Smith’s momentous “Declaration of Conscience” speech on June 1, we encourage Mainers to write to U.S. Sen. Susan Collins to urge her to do the same. Here is our letter:
Dear Sen. Collins,
Throughout the course of your political career, you have pointed to Sen. Margaret Chase Smith as your hero and inspiration because in 1950, as a new senator and the only woman in the chamber, she stood up on the Senate floor and delivered a speech called the “Declaration of Conscience,” a powerful rebuke of the lies, blacklists, and other totalitarian techniques of McCarthyism.
You met Sen. Smith when you were a senior in high school. “What I remember most,” you have written about that moment, “was her telling me always to stand tall for what I believed, citing her “Declaration of Conscience” as an example. Her eloquent words still ring true today. Her “Declaration of Conscience” is a template for standing tall.
You could have never imagined when you wrote those words what lay ahead for our country. Now is your moment to stand tall.
We were pleased to see you speak out against the president’s drastic assault on scientific research, and in opposition to the perilous “gift” of a new proposed Air Force One from the Qatari royal family.
But we need you to stand taller. And to speak with the conviction and urgency this moment requires.
When legal residents are being abducted on the street and put in prisons without due process for lawfully and peacefully expressing their opinions, we need to hear you.
When the United States of America abandons its NATO allies and aligns with the world’s despots, we need to hear you.
When our national security is jeopardized by careless chatter and there is no accountability, we need to hear you.
When expertise, education, science and diplomacy are slashed and labelled as the enemy, we need to hear you.
When the president sells access to the White House and tries to make a sucker out of the American public, we need to hear you.
When federal money already approved for Maine by your Appropriations Committee is withheld by a vindictive president, we need to hear you.
In 2010, you and Sen. Olympia Snowe co-sponsored a resolution that declared June 1, 2010 the “Day of Conscience” to honor Sen. Smith and the 60th anniversary of her speech. At the time, you said, “[P]eople will always recognize her name was synonymous with thoughtful, independent, and honest representation. … She called on her colleagues to reject political exploitation, intimidation and fear tactics, and to defend the right of all Americans to freedom of speech and the right to independent thought. She had the integrity to speak out for what is right, though it was not politically popular.”
Now it is your turn. This June 1 is the 75th anniversary of that declaration on the Senate floor. It is time for you to remind President Donald Trump that the legislature is a co-equal branch of government, that the unAmerican cruelty, recklessness and corruption that we see from the current executive branch must cease.
We invite all Mainers who feel as we do to write to you, Sen. Collins, to wish you a happy Day of Conscience and to encourage you to make it one for the history books.
When you met with Sen. Smith as a teenager, you were struck by her belief in, as you wrote, “the difference one person can make.” We agree. We believe you can be the first federally elected Republican, Sen. Collins, to summon the mighty courage to obliterate the current complicity.
Maine needs you. Our country needs you. Our world needs you. This is your moment. This is your legacy. Stand up as Sen. Smith did, and do us proud.
