A Joseph Welch Moment: Could One Person’s Words Still Make Such An Impact?

In a Los Angeles Times commentary today, NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams references Joseph Welch‘s 1954 outburst to Sen. Joseph McCarthy: “Have you no sense of decency?”

“Because Welch, in all his bald, black-and-white splendor, plays a significant supporting role in George Clooney’s superb new film, “Good Night, and Good Luck,” and because many younger filmgoers will learn of his role in history, maybe it’s an appropriate time to ask if, in our current media climate, the words of any individual could have anything approaching the impact of Welch’s words on that day.

He concludes that “if each generation has its own Joseph Welch moment, there’s a real danger that we might miss ours, because our attention is elsewhere.” Here’s the rest…