The Politics of Conscience:
Margaret Chase Smith and Today’s Political Climate
NOW FREE!
Registration requested
Friday, September 30, 2011
9:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Doors open and coffee available at 8:30
G.W. Hinckley (formerly Good Will-Hinckley), Hinckley, Maine
Today’s divisive political atmosphere has prompted much hand-wringing and analysis in the popular media. The United States also experienced extreme politics during the Cold War, and one of the few Senators to protest the lack of civility was Margaret Chase Smith. The first woman to be elected to both houses of Congress (and more often than not the only woman in the Senate), Smith’s “Declaration of Conscience” speech, given in response to Senator Joseph McCarthy’s interrogations of suspected Communists, represents the power of an individual holding firm to her own moral compass.
Presenters include:
- Professor of Spanish Linda Britt, also of the University of Maine at Farmington, will share her excerpts from her one-woman play, a work that has made a deep impression around the state, particularly on those who knew the Senator personally.
- Assistant Professor of Political Science Jim Melcher of the University of Maine at Farmington will discuss Smith's approach to politics, which provides useful contrasts and parallels to today's Congressional culture.
- Dr. David Richards of the Margaret Chase Smith Library will talk about her life and legacy.
CEUs will be available
Registration
If you would rather send in your information by regular mail, please print this page (styled for easy printing) and mail to: Maine Humanities Council, 674 Brighton Avenue, Portland, ME 04102; otherwise, please fill out the forms below.
For more information, or a complete program, please email Anne Schlitt.
top left photo: Migrant Mother, Dorothea Lange
top right photo: Androscoggin River Flow, Connie McVey, watercolor, 17" x 21"
