SENATOR CAIN & FLORIDA MEMORIAL COLLEGE 565

"These dead who lie here were driven and starved and beaten to
slake the unholy thirst of your German war machine.... The Allies
shudder because they never dreamed or visualized that human leader-
ship, supported by the masses, could so debase itself as to be respon-
sible for results like those who lie in these open graves. The civilized
world shudders on finding that a part of its society has fallen so low
,... If there be a soul within the German nation it will rise now to
make impossible the doing of such future wrong. If there not be a
soul in this German nation, its future is forlorn and totally lacking in
hope. "

Almost a decade later, in 1954, Senator Cain, as a member of the
Subversive Activities Control Board, saw the soul of the American
nation threatened by injustices not so grave in impact but in implica-
tion.

Deeply disturbed by what he regarded as violations of fundamental
liberties, Senator Cain noted that injustices, completely out of con-
sonance with the American tradition, were being perpetrated against
employees of the Federal government and against many citizens as
well.

His own words say best why, as he has put it, "I would not remain
silent and live with myself.

"Our exaggerated fear.... [Senator Cain has written] had become
a plague. It led brother to spy on brother, as in Nazi Germany and
Soviet Russia. It broke the lives of many decent little people, who, in
a number of cases, were convicted by malicious rumor, plain dirty lies
and the words of professional informers. The victims were thrown
out of jobs and their characters stained.... It mocked our American
justice with a security net that touched one out of every ten adults in
the United States. "

As expected, Senator Cain was fiercely denounced by those he de-
scribes, with great insight, as being "more concerned with politics
than justice. " But in his temerity and determination to speak up, he
demonstrated what a New York Times editorial declared to be "cour-
age unique in the political scene. "

Harry Cain, characteristically modest about his role in those tem-
pestuous days a decade ago and about the significance of his actions,
describes his behavior as that of a true conservative. He has portrayed
himself as "a basically conservative person — meaning conservative to
include respect for individual rights. " "Every government worker, "