
Good Night, and Good Luck. Page #5
...who reminds her husband
to take off his wedding ring...
...before he goes to the office.
- Ava Gardner.
Excuse me, Mr. Friendly. Mr. Murrow,
Mr. Paley's on the line for you.
- Maybe he wants to reimburse us
for those ads. - You'd like that!
- I would like that!
- This is Ed.
There's a Knickerbocker game tonight.
I've got front row seats.
Are you interested?
I'm busy bringing down
the network tonight, Bill.
Is that tonight?
We're covered, Bill.
All right.
- I'm with you today, Ed, and I'm
with you tomorrow. - Thanks, Bill.
Do you know the timing
on the first piece?
Can we hold all the calls, please?
Hold the calls till after the show.
Thank you.
- You fellas, awake down there?
- Okay.
- Just... what are we? 20?
- 30 seconds, Ed.
And pan, camera one.
Because a report on Senator McCarthy
is by definition controversial...
...we want to say exactly
what we mean to say...
...and request your permission
to read from a script...
...whatever remarks Murrow
and Friendly may make.
If the Senator feels that we have done
violence to his words or pictures...
...and desires to answer himself...
...an opportunity will be afforded him
on this program.
is this quotation:
..."If this fight
against Communism..."
"...has made a fight between
America's two great political parties..."
"...the American people know that one
of these parties will be destroyed..."
"...and the Republic cannot endure
very long as a one-party system."
We applaud that statement...
...and we think
He said it
that this cannot be made a fight...
...between America's
two great political parties.
If this fight against Communism...
...is made a fight against America's
two great political parties...
...the American people know that one
of those parties will be destroyed...
...and the Republic can't endure
very long as a one-party system.
On one thing the Senator
has been consistent.
Often operating as a one-man
committee, he has traveled far...
...interviewed many,
terrorized some...
...accused civilian
and military leaders...
...of the past administration
of a great conspiracy...
...to turn over the country
to Communism.
I was extremely shocked when I heard
that Secretary Stevens...
...told 2 Army officers that they had
to take part in the cover up...
...of those who promoted
and coddled Communists.
As I read his statement, I...
...thought of that quotation,
"On what meat..."
"...doth this our Caesar feed?".
The questions is:
...did the Civil Liberties Union
supply you with an attorney?
- They did supply an attorney.
- The answer is yes?
The answer is yes.
Do you think this book
did considerable harm?
Its publication...
...by an expression of the views
contained in it?
The sale of that book
was so abysmally small...
...it was so unsuccessful,
that the question of its influence...
You can go back
to the publisher...
...you'll see it was one of the most
unsuccessful books he ever put out.
just as I am.
Well, I think that's a compliment
to American intelligence.
I'll say that.
The Reed Harris hearing demonstrates
one of the Senator's techniques.
Twice he said...
..."The American Civil Liberties Union
was listed as a subversive front."
The Attorney General's list does not
and never has listed...
...the ACLU as subversive,
nor does the FBI...
...or any other
federal government agency.
And the American Civil Liberties Union
holds in its files...
...letters of commendation
from President Truman...
...President Eisenhower,
and General MacArthur.
Earlier, the Senator asked, "Upon what
meat does this our Caesar feed?".
Had he looked three lines earlier
in Shakespeare's "Caesar"...
...he would have found this line,
which is not altogether inappropriate.
"The fault, dear Brutus, is not
in our stars, but in ourselves."
No one familiar with the history
of this country...
...can deny that Congressional
committees are useful.
It is necessary to investigate
before legislating...
...but the line between investigating
and persecuting is a very fine one...
...and the junior Senator from Wisconsin
has stepped over it repeatedly.
We must not confuse dissent
with disloyalty.
We must remember always
that accusation is not proof...
...and that conviction depends
upon evidence and due process of law.
We will not walk in fear,
one of another.
We will not be driven by fear
into an age of unreason...
...if we dig deep
in our history and doctrine...
...and remember that we are not
descended from fearful men...
...not from men who feared to write,
to associate, to speak...
...and to defend the causes
that were for the moment unpopular.
This is no time for men who oppose
Senator McCarthy's methods...
...to keep silent,
or for those who approve.
We can deny our heritage
and our history...
...but we cannot escape
responsibility for the results.
We proclaim ourselves,
indeed as we are...
...the defenders of freedom wherever
it continues to exist in the world...
...but we cannot defend freedom abroad
by deserting it at home.
The actions of the junior Senator
from Wisconsin...
...have caused alarm and dismay
amongst our allies abroad...
...and given considerable comfort
to our enemies.
Not really his.
He didn't create
this situation of fear...
...he merely exploited it,
and rather successfully.
Cassius was right.
"The fault, dear Brutus, is not
in our stars, but in ourselves."
Good night, and good luck.
And we're out.
Nothing?
Maybe nobody watched.
- We got nothing.
- I don't know. - Nothing.
Should I turn the phones back on,
Mr. Williams?
Yes. Now would be
a good time for that.
Turn the phones on!
Turn the pho...
Mr. Friendly wants the phones on.
It's the Junior Senator
calling collect.
Don't kid yourself. It's Reed Harris
thanking us for mentioning him.
I don't know whether all of you
have seen what I just saw...
...but I want to associate myself
and this program...
...with what Ed Murrow
has just said...
...and say I have never been
prouder of CBS.
Senator McCarthy said today that he
would demand equal free television...
Stevenson had charged that the Senator
made demagoguery and deceit...
...the national policy...
- Is that Hollenbeck?
- Congratulations!
Great show!
Feel like a Scotch?
I think everybody
could use a Scotch.
- It's 3:
30, early editions are out.Of course not.
Shirley, honey...
...would you go across the street
and get the early editions?
- All of them?
- Just get O'Brian!
- Hey, watch my drink!
- Yeah.
Okay. Here we go.
- At last!
- The Times. - The Times...
- First?
- Good.
- Who wrote it?
- Jack Gould.
Gould...
Edward R. Murrow's television program
on Senator Joseph R. McCarthy...
...was an exciting and provocative
examination of the man and his methods.
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"Good Night, and Good Luck." Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2025. Web. 15 Mar. 2025. <https://www.scripts.com/script/good_night,_and_good_luck._9195>.
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