"and be not rebarbarized by Brigham Young or Red Republicanism, it will be a strange place in 1958" Red Republicans??
I've seen other such labels, i.e., radical Republicans or Black Republicans, but this is the first I've seen "Red Republicanism".
Has anyone seen it before, or know what it refers to exactly?
Hmmmmm…..
"Origin:
Mid 19th century; earliest use found in Freeman's Journal.
From red + republican, originally after French républicain rouge."
So, OK,
French radical republicans were called "reds" at the time, but surely our good correspondent does not mean to equate rural mild-mannered, even docile, US Republicans to them?
Merriam-Webster: "an extreme Republican of the French Revolution."
It seems Mr. Strong was thinking not of the new Republican Party (of which he was by this time a member, I think) but of an upheaval involving guillotines.