Hooray for Janet Mills, the governor of Maine. In her response to President Trump’s rebuke on Feb. 21, 2025, she upheld the much honored tradition of Margaret Chase Smith, who spent 30 years in Congress as a representative and senator. Margaret Chase Smith is famous for standing up to Sen. Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin, who with the help of his lawyer Roy Cohn and feckless fellow senators, conducted a cruel and destructive witch hunt against anyone in the U.S. suspected of having Communist leanings. Many lives and careers were destroyed and an atmosphere of hate and suspicion permeated the country. In a famous address to Congress in 1950, Smith warned senators not to embrace the Four Horsemen of Calumny — fear, ignorance, bigotry and smear. In a recent speech, Illinois Governor Jay Pritzker said “tyranny requires your fear, and your silence and your compliance. Democracy requires courage.” Show your courage now!

Catherine Elizabeth Goegel

Canterbury