Daily List

Today in History, June 9th

On June 9, 1954, Joseph Welch asked Sen. Joseph McCarthy if he had any sense of decency. Plus Secretariat's Triple Crown and more.

By Today in History Updated November 10, 2026 2 min read Sources checked

Published June 9, 2026 · Last updated November 10, 2026

June 9 is best known for 1954, when Army lawyer Joseph Welch asked Sen. Joseph McCarthy whether he had any sense of decency, a moment that helped end McCarthy’s power. The date also saw Secretariat win the Triple Crown in 1973 and Charles Dickens die in 1870.

The big story: “Have you no sense of decency?” (1954)

By the spring of 1954, Sen. Joseph McCarthy had spent years accusing people of communist ties, and he had moved on to a big new target: the U.S. Army, which he claimed was soft on communism. His committee’s hearings ran for weeks with newspaper and television reporters looking on. Lawyer Joseph N. Welch was there as the Army’s special counsel. On June 9, McCarthy turned on Fred Fisher, a young associate at Welch’s law firm, saying Fisher had once belonged to a group the senator tied to the Communist Party. Welch told McCarthy he had never fully grasped his cruelty and recklessness, then asked whether he had no sense of decency left. The room broke into applause. The hearings wrapped up about a week later. In December 1954, the Senate formally condemned McCarthy, and his influence never recovered. He died in 1957, still a senator.

More events on June 9

Year	What happened
1815	European powers signed the Final Act of the Congress of Vienna, redrawing the map of Europe after the Napoleonic Wars.
1856	Nearly 500 Latter-day Saint pioneers left Iowa City for Salt Lake City, pulling their belongings in handcarts.
1870	Novelist Charles Dickens died at Gad’s Hill, near Chatham, in Kent, England.
1893	The interior of Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C., where Abraham Lincoln was shot, collapsed, killing 22 people.
1915	William Jennings Bryan resigned as U.S. secretary of state over the government’s response to the sinking of the Lusitania.
1934	Donald Duck made his screen debut in the Disney cartoon “The Wise Little Hen.”
1964	A CIA memo questioned the “domino theory” that underpinned the Johnson administration’s Vietnam policy.
1973	Secretariat won the Belmont Stakes by 31 lengths to take the Triple Crown.