This Day in History: June 9

During the Senate Army-McCarthy hearings, Army Special Counsel Joseph N. Welch famously berates Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy, R-Wis., asking: 'Have you no sense of decency, sir?'

American politician Joseph McCarthy, Republican senator from Wisconsin, testifies against the US Army during the Army-McCarthy hearings, Washington, DC, June 9, 1954. McCarthy stands before a map which charts Communist activity in the United States.

On this day, June 9 …
 
1954: During the Senate Army-McCarthy hearings, Army Special Counsel Joseph N. Welch berates Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy, R-Wis., asking: "Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?"

Also on this day:

  • 1943: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Current Tax Payment Act of 1943, which reintroduces federal income tax withholding from paychecks.
  • 1954: During the Senate Army-McCarthy hearings, Army Special Counsel Joseph N. Welch berates Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy, R-Wis., asking: "Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?"
  • 1959: The USS George Washington III, the first ballistic missile submarine, is launched.
  • 1969: The Senate confirms Warren Burger to be the new chief justice of the United States, succeeding Earl Warren.
  • 1986: The Rogers Commission releases its report on the Challenger disaster, criticizing NASA and rocket-builder Morton Thiokol for management problems leading to the explosion that killed seven astronauts.
  • 1972: Heavy rains trigger record flooding in the Black Hills of South Dakota; the resulting disaster left at least 238 people dead and $164 million in damage.
  • 1973: Secretariat becomes the first horse since 1948 to win the Triple Crown.

(AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

  • 2009: A bankruptcy judge approves Chrysler's plan to terminate 789 of its dealer franchises, the same day the Supreme Court clears the way for Chrysler LLC's sale to Fiat.

(AP Photo/The Guardian)

  • 2013: Edward Snowden is identified as the source for the NSA leaks.
  • 2019: Former Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz is shot in an ambush at a bar in the Dominican Republic.
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