[Taft in '52]

Red Channels (New York, Business Consultants, 1950), the book said to be the basis for the "blacklist" of Reds and Pinks in the entertainment industry during the 1950's, lists Copland as being affiliated with nearly two dozen Communist fronts and publications. Most of the documentation comes from HUAC hearings. However, according to Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, Copland was never proven to have been a Communist.

Despite his earlier sins, Bernstein deserves kudos for a 1990 concert celebrating the fall of the Berlin Wall. The performance featured Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, which concludes with the singing of Johann Friedrich Christoph von Schiller's An Die Freude (Ode to Joy). Bernstein changed the word "Freude" (joy) to "Freiheit" (freedom). That performance gave me a thrill.

[Borges]

Saw that Bernstein performance and will not forget it. My favorite story about the multi talented polymath that was Leonard Bernstien invovles a European music student who was planning to come to America to study with him. "Be careful" his father warned him.."They say Bernstein has a fondness for young men." The student gasped and said "Is there anything he can't do!"