Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations. 1989.
| NUMBER: | 61 |
| AUTHOR: | Margaret Chase Smith (1897–1995) |
| QUOTATION: | Those of us who shout the loudest about Americanism in making character assassinations are all too frequently those who, by our own words and acts, 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. |
| ATTRIBUTION: | Senator She added, “The American people are sick and tired of being afraid to speak their minds lest they be politically smeared as Communists or Fascists by their opponents.” These and other remarks preceded the Declaration of Conscience (p. 7895), which she drafted and in which she was joined by six other Republican Senators. |
| SUBJECTS: | America |