"Lincoln Day" isn't a familiar phrase to me. When I was a child, we celebrated "George Washington's Birthday" on February 12th and "Lincoln's Birthday" on February 22nd. (They've now been combined into a single "President's Day," third Monday in February). Abraham Lincoln belonged to the Republican party and Republicans are proud of Lincoln. I see that in 2015, in Wheeling, "The Ohio County Republican Executive Committee proudly presents a Lincoln Day Dinner on July 22, 2015." So I would guess that the "Lincoln Day Dinner" is a local Republican party tradition in Wheeling. McCarthy's speech in Wheeling is famous/infamous. I'm sure this is all in the book, but that's the speech in which he held up a piece of paper and said "I have here in my hand a list of 205 names that were made known to the Secretary of State as being members of the Communist Party and who nevertheless are still working and shaping policy in the State Department." He refused to show reporters the "list," giving various excuses, and in subsequent speeches the number he claimed were on the list kept changing--as well as his description of their degree of affiliation with the party (were they actually "members" or merely "loyalists," etc.) (In short, the "list" did not exist and he couldn't even remember what he had previously said about it).

1) "Fete" is a loan word from the French "fête," a festival or celebration. It's not a very common word. Headline writers use what is almost a special vocabulary of short words: "rap" for "criticize," "nix" for "reject," "Hub" for "Boston" (at least in Boston newspapers!), "GOP" for "Republicans," etc. "Fete," as a noun, or a verb ("to celebrate") is one of those words. I see, for example, that a New Jersey newspaper urges us to "Fete the Fourth with U.S. wine." 2) In a poker game--a card game that involves both luck and skill--the players use round colored disks, called "chips," to indicate the amount of a bet. A white chip might represent $1, a red chip $5, and blue chip $10. As a hand is played, the players put down a series of bets, which, depending on the game play, they may decide to add to. When all the bets have been made, "the chips are down." At that point, the play is complete. It is now the critical moment when players learn the outcome. All the players show their cards and discover who has won and who has lost. So by extension it means a moment when all of the maneuvering is over, and we find out who has lost or won the game/battle. Poker chips are about 39 mm in diameter and 3 mm thick. Picture: http://wac.450f.edgecastcdn.net/80450F/999thepoint.com/files/2014/01/Poker-Chips-Credit-iStock-452363311-630x418.jpg

Wisconsin Senator - Referring to (Joseph) McCarthy Lincoln Fete - A celebration either of Lincoln, a former President of the US, or a celebration in the town of Lincoln. "Chips are Down" - This indicates that a desperate or critical situation is occurring, In this case, McCarthy is saying that there is a critical situation, the "battle between Communistic atheism and Christianity." So, Joseph McCarthy was telling the people at the Lincoln celebration that there is a critical situation.