Having grown up in that era, I can agree with you -- to a point. Certainly journalists had a higher standard, but then, as now, reporters -- and more importantly their editors -- had agendas leaning left or right. I do apologize for the sarcasm in my reply, but after two years of reading journalistic nonsense, I have little patience for, or interest in, Kenyan history.
I did scroll through the Mboya holdings at Stanford and one section does describe “personal correspondence including letters between Mboya and students of the airlift”. I would trust the listings at Stanford more so than I would trust the presstitute who conveniently wrote that Susan Mboya refused to release her father’s papers when his papers are held at Stanford.
If you don't trust the "presstitute's" writing that Susan Mboya refused to release her father's papers, why do you put so much faith in the actual existence of those particular letters she describes? Certainly, the relationship between Mboya and Obama was a contentious one. The now-famous Marxist paper Obama wrote in 1965, not long after his return from Harvard, was a direct attack on "the economic proposals of pro-Western ‘third way” leader Tom Mboya," as Greg Ransom of Prestopundit has reported in an excellent piece of research.
Obama hadn't suddenly become a communist upon his return to Kenya -- the commemorative written by Naranhkiri Tith Ph.D. on the Cambodiana.org website gives us an idea, tactfully phrased, of his beliefs as a UH student in the early '60's:
"Barak and I were a part of a small group of foreign students who participated in group discussions in various places (Churches, sinagogues, junior colleges) around the campus and in town. Those discussions centered on the role and impact of former Soviet Union and China had in the developing countries. Barak, was more hopeful than I was about the role and the influence of these two major Communist countries in the developing nations in the world, because I had the opportunity to study in Europe, and in France, especially, I was more aware of the nature of communism than Barak was...
...We often were not on the same side, when discussing Communism in the developing countries."
And niether did Tom Mboya suddenly become pro-Western; both these men held ideologically opposite views of Kenya's future, and by all accounts, Obama was never shy in expressing those views -- even to the face of Kenyatta, who promptly banned him from government as a result.
Given that background, and the fact that Obama never confided a marriage to Ann Dunham of the existence of a son in the US to any of his classmates or friends in the US, why would he have confided it to Tom Mboya? To what possible advantage?
Also note, from the misleading description of the downfall of Sr. as presented in "Dreams" and quoted in Ransom's report, that the "official story" never portrayed Mboya and Obama as friends. You certainly don't get that impression by reading the Boston Globe piece.
My first, gut, reaction to that Globe story was, "Oh, Abercrombie (or the Obama campaign) felt the need to have someone other than the Hawaii Congressman (Susan Mboya) attest to the glorious love affair."
I am very tempted to say that Jr was the result of a one night stand and that Ann continued her puppy love infatuation with Sr after she arrived in WA state. As I have researched never have I ever seen such a convoluted story, and I am always left with more questions than answers. Although Sr worked in the Eonomics Dept in Kenya, I found it interesting that Tom Mboya was the Mnister of that department from 1964 until his death in 1969. He would have been directly responsible for Obama Sr and didn’t hesitate to cut him loose when he expressed his socialist opinions. The impression I am left with in regard to Obama Sr was that he thought too highly of himself and his big mouth affected his life to the detriment not only of himself but also his family. I will include an article which I found last night which you may or may not want to read which focuses on an American living in Kenya who assisted Mboya with his fund raising for the airlift. Pay close attention to the description of Jr’s paternal grandfather in the article.
http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/magazine/-/434746/525930/-/view/printVersion/-/i13vxrz/-/index.html