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Joseph Nye Welch

United States army counsel

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Joseph Nye Welch was an American attorney who played a pivotal role in the decline of Senator Joseph McCarthy's influence. Welch served as the special counsel for the U.S. Army during the televised Army-McCarthy hearings in 1954. These hearings investigated McCarthy's accusations of communist infiltration within the Army.1234

During the hearings, Welch famously confronted McCarthy, asking, "Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?". This moment, broadcast nationally, exposed McCarthy's bullying tactics and contributed significantly to the public turning against him. The Senate subsequently censured McCarthy, effectively ending the era of McCarthyism.132

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