The Sun remembers 1953: Where I Stand — Hank Greenspun: ‘Sens. McCarran, Malone worthless’

Friday, July 28, 2000 | 9:23 a.m.

Note to readers: This column by Sun Publisher Hank Greenspun appeared on March 30, 1953.

I should like to be the first to congratulate the people of the State of Nevada. It now appears that we are about to win the title for the seventh consecutive year. If Nevada can lead the other 47 states in 1953, then our right to the title should be undisputed because we have been able to wear and hold onto our laurels during two separate and opposing national administrations.

To retain a championship during six years of stiff competition is an enviable achievement especially with strong contenders like Wisconsin and Indiana in there pitching to break the iron hold which Nevada has on the crown.

Our state has had the dubious honor of placing the two senators who represent us at the top of the list of the worst senators in the United States. Senators Molly Malone and Pat McCarran, have had little difficulty being named consistently by every impartial newspaper and political science poll, as foremost among the members the Senate can most easily do without.

It isn't an easy task to be so consistently wrong on every major issue of national or international importance. It can't be a happenstance. It must take some foresight and planning. It must be by design.

In the first test of strength between the Eisenhower administration and the group who represents the "lunatic fringe" of the country, both senators, McCarran and Malone, were among the thirteen who voted in opposition to the president. I do not intend to discuss the McCarran vote in the Senate confirmation of Charles E. Bohlen as ambassador to Russia, because McCarran has been a continual follower of Sen. Joe McCarthy of Wisconsin. The names of McCarthy and McCarran have become synonymous household words for political fakery and loud-mouthed gutter tactics. So it is expected that the senior senator from Nevada should stand side by side with the country's leading sex-deviate, in villifying by innuendo a public official of good reputation like Charles Bohlen.

It is the Malone vote which the people should question. President Eisenhower received over 20,000 votes more than his opponent in the Nevada election. Senator Malone barely eked out a 200 vote majority, and this, only because of the Eisenhower landslide, which carried the junior senator to victory. And yet, Molly presumed to know more about foreign policies and relations than does the man to whom he owes his election, and who received so overwhelming a vote of confidence by the people of this state.

But just as the leopard cannot change his spots, so must we expect that Malone will continue to exhibit the same lack of knowledge about governmental affairs which has distinguished him in the past.

I have tried to analyze the state of mind of people who have persistently elected McCarran and Malone to the senate. We are the smallest state in the Union population-wise, and like many small persons, we have developed a "little-man" or "game-cock" complex. We must strut around, and preen and throw out our chests and challenge everyone lest others might think we are inferior.

We are electing men to the Senate who will make a loud noise in Washington so that the people of the country will hear about the small state of Nevada. But where in former times we had national recognition through men like Key Pittman who brought credit on our state, our present choices are known for their windbag propensities instead of the grey matter between the ears. Our senators are now making a lot of noise even though it is reverberating from an empty barrel.

With Malone and McCarran as our spokesmen, we are challenging everything and everyone whether right or wrong.

Our senatorial delegates continually opposed the Democratic administration which has created a breach between the national heads and the state, and has left us holding the bag, as compared with the national benefits which other states have received.

It now appears that our two senators, despite the tremendous vote of confidence which Eisenhower received, are also opposing the Republican administration. McCarran and Malone have continually fought against every worthwhile piece of legislation of the Democratic party, and are now carrying their opposition into the Republican regime.

The Democratic and Republican parties represent democracy in our country. If our senatorial group cannot agree with either administration, just whom do they favor, anyway?

The votes of both McCarran and Malone have always followed the lead of Sen. McCarthy. The senator from Wisconsin is the mouthpiece of the most degrading elements in the Senate and the country.

I'm beginning to believe that we are on the wrong side. We elect men to the senate who seem to be opposed to democracy. The state of Nevada, in the senate of the United States, seems to be opposed to the democratic way of life.

A breech between the state and the new Republican administration should isolate us completely from the rest of the country. Nevada will continue to be left holding the bag. First because of McCarran, and now because of Malone.

I should like to congratulate the people of Nevada. We are about to win the title for having the worst senators in the United States for the seventh consecutive time.