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Said a Republican member of the Select Committee after Knowland announced his decision: "He ran out on us."
"Mene, Mene, Tekel . . ." But Knowland's move came as no surprise to at least one Senator: Democratic Leader Lyndon Johnson. No sooner had Knowland sat down than Johnson pulled from his desk drawer a prepared reply. The words McCarthy had used in describing the Watkins committee, said Johnson, would be "much more fittingly inscribed on the wall of a men's room." Bill Knowland flushed red and scowled furiously.
After that, there was little to do but start voting. The first roll call came on a Dirksen-authored substitute resolution that would have completely cleared Joe of any wrongdoing. It was on this motion that the McCarthyites based their fondest hopes; Dirksen had talked confidently of 30 or 35 favorable votes. While the clerk called the roll, South Dakota's Republican Senator Karl Mundt pranced up and down like a cheerleader, but to no avail. The resolution was defeated, 66 to 21, and the handwriting was on the wall.
Other votes followed. Substitutes introduced by McCarthy supporters were beaten down. But the Senate did drop the censure count against McCarthy for his abuse of Brigadier General Ralph Zwicker. In its place went a condemnation section against Joe for his "Communist handmaiden'' and "lynch bee" sneers. At last came the final vote, on which Democrats voted solidly for censure and Republicans split evenly (see box).
More than two-thirds of the U.S. Senate had, therefore, condemned McCarthy for 1) contempt of the Hennings-Hayden-Hendrickson subcommittee that investigated him in 1951-52, and 2) his conduct toward the Senate and the Watkins committee since censure was recommended. Over and above these specific counts, McCarthy's colleagues censured him for bringing the Senate into dishonor and disrepute and for obstructing its legislative processes.
Condemnation. After the tally was announced. New Hampshire's foxy Republican Senator Styles Bridges arose to ask if the word "censure" actually appeared in the resolution. Vice President Nixon said that it did not. Some McCarthyites were jubilant: they claimed Joe had escaped censure. Some liberals were equally happy; they had said all along that the Senate would never dare "censure" Joe. McCarthy himself scorned this piece of nitpicking. Asked by a newsman if he thought he had been censured, Joe said: "I wouldn't say it was a vote of confidence." And Idaho's Republican Senator Herman Welker, a foursquare McCarthyite, had remarked, hours before the last vote was taken: "You don't censure a man to death. You condemn him to death." Senator Watkins pointed out that the historic verb in Senate censure resolutions is "condemn."
At week's end came the first word from the White House since the censure debate began. Dwight Eisenhower personally congratulated weary, browbeaten Arthur Watkins for a "very splendid job."