1965: 'If I Were the Devil' (Warning for a Nation) - Paul Harvey

FOX Nation ^ | March 22, 2012 | Paul Harvey

[BMC1]

This speech was broadcast by legendary ABC Radio commentator Paul Harvey on April 3, 1965:

If I were the Devil . . . I mean, if I were the Prince of Darkness, I would of course, want to engulf the whole earth in darkness. I would have a third of its real estate and four-fifths of its population, but I would not be happy until I had seized the ripest apple on the tree, so I should set about however necessary to take over the United States. I would begin with a campaign of whispers. With the wisdom of a serpent, I would whisper to you as I whispered to Eve: “Do as you please.” “Do as you please.” To the young, I would whisper, “The Bible is a myth.” I would convince them that man created God instead of the other way around. I would confide that what is bad is good, and what is good is “square”. In the ears of the young marrieds, I would whisper that work is debasing, that cocktail parties are good for you. I would caution them not to be extreme in religion, in patriotism, in moral conduct. And the old, I would teach to pray. I would teach them to say after me: “Our Father, which art in Washington” . . .

If I were the devil, I’d educate authors in how to make lurid literature exciting so that anything else would appear dull an uninteresting. I’d threaten T.V. with dirtier movies and vice versa. And then, if I were the devil, I’d get organized. I’d infiltrate unions and urge more loafing and less work, because idle hands usually work for me. I’d peddle narcotics to whom I could. I’d sell alcohol to ladies and gentlemen of distinction.

[BMC1]

How prophetic. We are now living this.

[DLfromthedesert]

I miss Paul Harvey!!!

[MizSterious]

Thanks, apt post for today.

[BMC1]

So do I.

[Servant of the Cross]

And now ...... you know the rest of the story. *sigh*

[just me]

and now... we are living the rest of the story..

[Kommodor]

Amazing. Paul the prophet. Between this and Ronald Reagan’s socialized medicine speech, pretty much all the bases are covered.

[BikerJoe]

My morning wasn’t started until I heard him say “Hello Americans!”

[The Duke]

Growing up working on the family farm in Tennessee, I used to listen to him every day during lunch break. He was part of the slow ebb and flow of life in those warmly-remembered days.

[4yearlurker]

When Paul Harvey came on the radio during the week,my dad would shush everybody and sit there with his ears and eyes wide open. I read all his “Rest of the Story” books. A good and decent man.

[BMC1]

Paul Harvey was fantastic, but the point of this article is how prophetic the man was. He could see what is happening to this country now.

Most of us didn’t see this coming, but he did.

[Jim Scott]

How prophetic. We are now living this.

And the sad thing is that it took less than 50 years.

[GraceG]

Heard this on Glenn Beck yesterday, creeped the crap outta me how accurate it is....

[SamuraiScot]

In other words, if I were Satan, I’d just keep on doing what he’s doing.

1965 seems like a long time ago, but Harvey was reacting to the news of the day. That was the year of the Supreme Court's decision that D.H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover couldn't be banned for obscenity. (How about for being really boring?)

The USSC decision banning prayer from public schools in response to the suit by Madelyn Murray O'Hair (Harvey's "atheist" in the column) was around 1961.

Making psychology and psychoanalysis the gods that explain everything (as opposed to God) was such a hot phenomenon by the 1960s that a Number 1 hit on the pop charts in 1962 was a parody of psychoanalysis called Walk Right In. It was the most successful recording ever published for the Communist label Vanguard Records. There had been a famous 1957 book on psychology ("motivational research") in advertising by Vance Packard called The Hidden Persuaders.

It's funny: Liberals made psychology a god, but at the time, they were as creeped-out about the results as anyone else.

1965 was also the first year that hippies became a national phenomenon, with girl-hair on boys, and Day-Glo paint on girls. You know, we talk a lot about 1968, but 1965 was a really bad year for reality.

[gunnyg]

yeh!

as technology has “advanced,” common sense has diminished...

Semper WTF!
*****

[SamuraiScot]

Um, just an update: Follow the link and listen to the recording of the column as he’s reading it. There’s a lot more material than what’s posted as text on the Web site. It’s more prophetic, extremely specific, actually kind of eerie.

[Sax]

"Please allow me to introduce myself; I am a man of wealth and taste"

[TBP]

Amazing how well he predicted current times.

So did Cole Porter (allowing for the 1930s topical references):

http://www.lyricsdepot.com/cole-porter/anything-goes.html

Times have changed
And we’ve often rewound the clock
Since the Puritans got a shock
When they landed on Plymouth Rock.
If today
Any shock they should try to stem
‘Stead of landing on Plymouth Rock,
Plymouth Rock would land on them.

Refrain 1

In olden days, a glimpse of stocking
Was looked on as something shocking.
But now, God knows,
Anything goes.
Good authors too who once knew better words
Now only use four-letter words
Writing prose.
Anything goes.
If driving fast cars you like,
If low bars you like,
If old hymns you like,
If bare limbs you like,
If Mae West you like,
Or me undressed you like,
Why, nobody will oppose.
When ev’ry night the set that’s smart is in-
Truding in nudist parties in
Studios.
Anything goes.

Refrain 2

When Missus Ned McLean (God bless her)
Can get Russian reds to “yes” her,
Then I suppose
Anything goes.
When Rockefeller still can hoard en-
Ough money to let Max Gordon
Produce his shows,
Anything goes.
The world has gone mad today
And good’s bad today,
And black’s white today,
And day’s night today,
And that gent today
You gave a cent today
Once had several chateaux.
When folks who still can ride in jitneys
Find out Vanderbilts and Whitneys
Lack baby clo’es,
Anything goes.

Refrain 3

If Sam Goldwyn can with great conviction
Instruct Anna Sten in diction,
Then Anna shows
Anything goes.
When you hear that Lady Mendl standing up
Now turns a handspring landing up-
On her toes,
Anything goes.
Just think of those shocks you’ve got
And those knocks you’ve got
And those blues you’ve got
From that news you’ve got
And those pains you’ve got
(If any brains you’ve got)
From those little radios.
So Missus R., with all her trimmin’s,
Can broadcast a bed from Simmons
‘Cause Franklin knows
Anything goes.