Page "Ralph Flanders" Paragraph 55

On June 11, 1954, Flanders introduced a resolution charging McCarthy “ with unbecoming conduct and calling for his removal from his committee membership .” Upon the advice of Senators Cooper and Fulbright and legal assistance from the Committee for a More Effective Congress he modified his resolution to “ bring it in line with previous actions of censure .” The text of the resolution of censure condemns the senator for “ obstructing the constitutional processes of the Senate ” when he “ failed to cooperate with the Subcommittee on Privileges and Elections of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration and acting “ contrary to senatorial ethics ” when he described the Select Committee to Study Censure Charges and its chairman in slanderous terms.

Time reported that a “ group of 23 top businessmen, labor leaders and educators … wired every U. S. Senator ( except McCarthy himself ) urging a favorable vote ‘ to curb the flagrant abuse of power by Senator McCarthy .’" The Senate censured McCarthy on December 2, 1954 by a vote of 65 to 22.

The Senate Republicans were split 22 to 22.

For a further treatment of this episode, refer to Joseph McCarthy — Censure and the Watkins Committee.