Posted on 05/06/2017 11:13:55 AM PDT by WilliamIII
Calling all conspiracy theorists! The National Archives is set to release the last remaining top-secret files about John F. Kennedys 1963 assassination, in a process that could begin by this summer. The trove of some 3,600 files, mostly from the FBI and CIA, were part of the collection assembled and sealed by the Archives, on the condition that they all be made public by October 2017.
But theres a catch: According to the same law, President Donald Trump has the ability to block the release of any or all of the documentsif he certifies that keeping them secret is a matter of national security.
(Excerpt) Read more at history.com ...
Oh I hope so!
Right that’s like forgetting where you were at on Septerber 11th, 2001 or Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941.
I might as well add something else: The SDS was specifically mentioned to have been infiltrated by the Soviets, which likewise would include the KGB. If they truly avoided leftist causes like the plague to avoid indicating what their next move was, they wouldn’t even BE in the SDS, so that alone proves that claim to be false.
Exactly.
You are probably not as old as I but we were taught anti-communist propaganda through the fifties and half of the Sixties. Our reading was “Darkness At Noon” and “Animal Farm.” One of many people’s favorite TV programs was “I Led Three Lives” about an FBI informant who had infiltrated the Communist Party. There were loads of movies and other TV shows which had anti-communist themes with major stars: Clark Gable, John Wayne and others. Paul Harvey, a forerunner of Rush, spoke the truth to the American People daily and there were others.
The media back then was NOTHING like today. Decency was praised-Degeneracy disparaged. Tradition was venerated-Utopianism disliked. Patriotism promoted - not ridiculed as unenlightening Jingoism. Christianity praised not just conservative either - it was not considered an archaic and dangerous superstition. America was portrayed as the good, noble hearted nation that it is, not painted as the epitome of Evil which the Democratmedia of today uses to attack patriots and all righteousness.
“You are probably not as old as I but we were taught anti-communist propaganda through the fifties and half of the Sixties. Our reading was Darkness At Noon and Animal Farm. One of many peoples favorite TV programs was I Led Three Lives about an FBI informant who had infiltrated the Communist Party. There were loads of movies and other TV shows which had anti-communist themes with major stars: Clark Gable, John Wayne and others. Paul Harvey, a forerunner of Rush, spoke the truth to the American People daily and there were others.”
Well, you’re right about one thing: Being born in February 14, 1990, I most certainly am not as old as you. And yes, there probably were a few TV shows and movies that had anti-Communist themes in there (I’m not sure whether to consider Animal Farm as truly anti-Communist, though, considering it only villainized Napoleon (ie, Stalin), NOT Snowball (ie, Lenin/Trotsky) or even Old Major (Karl Marx himself). If Orwell REALLY wanted to denounce communism, he should have shown a scene depicting Old Major as a psychopath in private who looks forward to the day animals eat each other after “liberating themselves” from humans in clear foreshadowing of Napoleon’s later actions. Anti-Stalinist? Sure, but I’ve heard of plenty of anti-Stalinists who are fans of similar mass murderers like Che Guevara or Trotsky or Lenin, heck, even Mao Zedong’s technically anti-Stalinist. If I were Orwell, I wouldn’t stop at demonizing Napoleon, I’d go so far as to depict Old Major AND Snowball in unflattering lights precisely to showcase how evil Communism was right from the start.). However, the media most certainly was in the tank with the communists. Or have you forgotten that it was the media who demonized the likes of McCarthy and his virtuous stand against Communism?
“The media back then was NOTHING like today. Decency was praised-Degeneracy disparaged. Tradition was venerated-Utopianism disliked. Patriotism promoted - not ridiculed as unenlightening Jingoism. Christianity praised not just conservative either - it was not considered an archaic and dangerous superstition. America was portrayed as the good, noble hearted nation that it is, not painted as the epitome of Evil which the Democratmedia of today uses to attack patriots and all righteousness.”
No, even back then, the media was very much like the media of today. Aside from their outright demonizing of Joseph McCarthy, HUAC, and the blacklists of the Hollywood 10, they also sung praises for the USSR like with Walter Duranty. Not to mention they made absolutely no secret of their hatred of Nixon for putting their buddy Alger Hiss into jail. And let’s not forget that, even prior to Cronkite’s infamous report on the Tet Offensive, he made scathing depictions of conservatives on by scowling regarding any speeches made by conservatives, or at least depicting any footage of them in a negative light. And 60 Minutes, especially under Mike Wallace’s run on the show, actually had him basically demonizing the people he interviewed. And since it was not broadcast live, that meant they can do editing of it. The only difference between the media back then and the media today is that the media today doesn’t even bother to hide their contempt for our way of life. And let’s not forget how Dan Rather ended up lying about Texas Schoolchildren (Christian Schools at that) by making it seem as though the children in question actually cheered at the idea of JFK being shot when in reality they had no way of knowing JFK was shot and if anything only were cheering at school being let out early. And for the record, the media has been like that since Walter Lippmann’s implementation of so-called “Objective Journalism”, which even he laid plain and clear in his book “Public Opinion” was a bunch of bullcrap meant to manipulate audiences in a cynical manner.
There was a vast difference between the old media and the recent media. Subjects such as Gay “Marriage”. transvestite rights, etc. would have been laughed out of the arena. Time was pretty Republican as was Life and Look.
Ted Turner did not own them.
There were even some Democrats who acted as though they loved the nation. Today JFK would have been drummed out of the party and considered a Republican.
As for rewriting “Animal Farm” I can only point out that it was a succinct and devastating exposure of Soviet Communism not an analysis of the Trotsky/Stalin struggle for power. It was intended to be a short novel. Soviet communism was not what Marx wanted since it was very underdeveloped he wanted it in Germany where capitalism was developed. Snowball was shone to be the object of the Five Minutes of Hate, a totalitarian method of population control. There was no need to analyze his beliefs since he was not in power.
SDS was principally domestic. It was split into a Cultural Revolution branch which came to be Weatherman, a pro-Maoist group - the PLP and a community organizing branch - the Intercommunal Survival Committee.
There were more FBI agents there than KGB. Besides anyone associated with KGB would not be a trained assassin. Those would do everything to avoid ANY publicity.
“There was a vast difference between the old media and the recent media. Subjects such as Gay Marriage. transvestite rights, etc. would have been laughed out of the arena. Time was pretty Republican as was Life and Look. Ted Turner did not own them.”
Time was also responsible for labeling Josef Stalin, of all people, as Person of the Year in 1942. Not to mention listing Adolf Hitler as Person of the Year in 1938. And I already cited how the New York Times, in particular Herbert Matthews, was practically the reason why Castro even got control of Cuba rather than executed. And let’s not forget the New Republic under Walter Lippmann, and Lippmann was considered to be a more valuable asset to the Soviets than even I.F. Stone, certainly provided more useful sources than he ever did if Eric Alterman is to be believed, and he’s done this since 1944. And if the media could risk promoting those ideologies back then, they most certainly would have, similar to how Obama was “against gay marriage before he was for it”, when in reality, he only was “against it” because the polls said he should appear to be against it. You can even read some examples here: https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2009/07/17/declassified-documents-reveal-kgb-spies-in-the-us
“There were even some Democrats who acted as though they loved the nation. Today JFK would have been drummed out of the party and considered a Republican.”
So please explain why Joseph McCarthy was drummed out of politics when he made his attempt at exposing the communist presence in America? Please explain why the Democrats, despite acting like they loved their nation, made absolutely no attempt to aid McCarthy in outright purging their government of Communist influence, OR aid the guys at HUAC in purging elements of Hollywood, the media, and others of Communist influence?
“As for rewriting Animal Farm I can only point out that it was a succinct and devastating exposure of Soviet Communism not an analysis of the Trotsky/Stalin struggle for power. It was intended to be a short novel. Soviet communism was not what Marx wanted since it was very underdeveloped he wanted it in Germany where capitalism was developed. Snowball was shone to be the object of the Five Minutes of Hate, a totalitarian method of population control. There was no need to analyze his beliefs since he was not in power.”
Snowball WAS in power, though, at least until Napoleon sicced his dogs on him. And he was considered to be fairly popular among the animals until Napoleon sicced the dogs on him and began rewriting history. And I’m not acting they should do essays on the subject, just one or two incidental lines of dialogue on his part would have sufficed.
And as far as Marx, actually, he most certainly would have wanted Soviet Communism during his deathbed. According to Paul Johnson’s Intellectuals, when he learned about his growing influence in Russia on December 1882, three months prior to his demise, he said, and I quote, “Nowhere is my success more delightful. It gives me the satisfaction that I damage a power which, next to England, is the true bulwark of the old society.” He may not have initially planned for Russia to be the originating point of Communism, but he most certainly was willing to accept it as that zealously nearing his deathbed. And don’t forget, Marx was the same guy who said, among other things, “Once we are at the helm, we shall be obliged to reenact the year 1793 [the Reign of Terror]. [...] We are pitiless and we ask no pity from you. When our time comes, we shall not conceal terrorism with hypocritical phrases. . . The vengeance of the people will break forth with such ferocity that not even the year 1793 enables us to envisage it. . . .” essentially meaning he WANTED any country after adopting Marxism/Communism to essentially eat its own and have the country burn to borrow a phrase from The Dark Knight.
“SDS was principally domestic. It was split into a Cultural Revolution branch which came to be Weatherman, a pro-Maoist group - the PLP and a community organizing branch - the Intercommunal Survival Committee.”
The SDS was already confirmed to be under direct Soviet influence, at least during early 1968, and may have been under Soviet influence even earlier. If it stopped being under Soviet influence, it’s only because of Ayers’ Weathermen and the RYM II made it Maoist (which means nothing since eve during the late Vietnam War, the Maoists were working hand in hand with the Soviets to ensure Vietnam fell to the Communists).
There were more FBI agents there than KGB. Besides anyone associated with KGB would not be a trained assassin. Those would do everything to avoid ANY publicity.”
If they really did everything to avoid any publicity whatsoever, they clearly failed in that objective since we’re fully aware of their name as well as the fact that are an intelligence agency, not to mention that they also seek to export Communism across the globe by any means necessary.
And besides, I’m pretty sure trying to do a disinformation campaign indicating that right-wing elements in the US Government was responsible for killing JFK isn’t exactly going to prevent them from getting publicity since they’re practically advertising that they’ve got something to hide there.
Since you did not experience the fifties and sixties you are unaware that the popular culture as exemplified by the media/entertainment media was solidly pro-American, and pro-family. Watch such tv shows as “Life With Father”, “Father Knows Best”, “Leave It to Beaver”, “Have Gun Will Travel”, “Gunsmoke”, “Wagon Train”, “Rawhide”, “Dragnet”,
“M-Squad”, “Bonanza” and many others.
You will see that the media was NOTHING like today in spite of Leftist attempts to shape and control it. There was more CIA control of the media than KGB.
As to the Man of the Year, where did you ever get the idea that it was GOOD Man of the Year? It is to reflect the impact or influence of a person not his virtue. Hitler was an obvious choice and Stalin was an ally when chosen in any case.
Joe McCarthy was opposed in Congressional hearing by the MILITARY not the media. It covered the hearings and they did not help Joe at all but painted him as a loose cannon. I think one of his problems was excessive drinking.
Don’t expect me to justify the actions of Democrats, I merely recognize that the party was not all anti-American and was mostly anti-communist. Again your youth leaves you unaware of the conservative Democrats who were patriots. John Stennis, Richard Russell, Scoop Jackson, even LBJ, Russell Long, John McClelland, L. Mendel Rivers, Sam Rayburn, John Sparkman, Carl Hayden, Alben Berkley, James Eastland, Carl Hatch, Pat McCarran, Wilbur Mills, and Carl Vinson are just a few. Don’t forget that almost every other Congressman from the South was both a Democrat and anti-Communist.
As with the media today’s Democrat Party is vastly different from the party it once was.
Marx may have welcome the revolutionary activity because of the trouble it caused the Czarist government but he was under no illusions of it leading to a Communist revolution because it had not gone through the stages necessary to his theory. He was well aware that the Proletariat in Russia was insufficiently developed for that to be.
Weatherman was never Maoist, that would be the Progressive Labor Party faction not Weatherman. Most of SDS had no love for Soviet or Chinese communism and most of its actions were initiated for domestic reasons.
Communist influence on SDS was limited when the organization was unified. Weatherman was begun as a means to attract youth and was organizing on a cultural basis not a political basis. It did not call for a proletarian revolution but claimed to want to reform our system, stop the War and push Civil Rights, not to establish a dictatorship. Communism was too boring and too foreign to our traditions - hence the claim that there was a “New” Left.
After the split the three factions coming out of it took different approaches. Only RYMII and the PLP seriously made an effort to organized the workers, and RYMII was more concerned with neighborhood organizing eventually leading to the election of one of its dimmer bulbs to the Chicago City Council, Helen Schliller.
Weatherman was basically anarcho-syndicalist and eventually terrorist believing in the Propaganda of the Deed. A tactic commonly used was to get in the faces of the students and challenge their beliefs and knowledge. The members would go into a college lunchroom and start screaming at the diners trying to get a rise out of them and cause trouble. Their philosophy was to organize through Action not spouting the virtues of a Proletarian Revolution or Marxism of any strip. This is what turned them to violence not Maoist theory where terrorism is either marginal or massive.
A fundamental contradiction for the organization in following Mao was that there were no peasants to organize. Mao’s Little Red Book was popular in all of them but was as much a product of Sun Tsu as Mao.
It is of limited interest to me what your sources are saying since I was intimately involved in these events.
You are completely wrong about the media which is not just the news media but all recorded entertainment. Then we had Bob Hope now we have John Leibowitz. Then we had Lucile Ball now Kathy Griffin. Even the novelists were conservative for the most part. Newspapers ran comic strips which varied from Family humor to overt anti-communism, even Christian themes (Peanuts).
Same is true wrt the Democrat Party, my father, a Yellow Dog Democrat, would never be in that party today. This is simply a fact, an unavoidable fact. All but one of the Senators from the South were solidly conservative and anti-Communist. Not only is that the case but the difference in the beliefs of the parties was far smaller than today.
Richard Nixon was not a conservative just an ambitious guy who rode anti-communism to power but he was a liberal in regard to civil rights. There was no clear ideological split in the parties, merely differences around the edges. It was Nothing like today where the differences are clear and irreconcilable. If the difference between periods of history are not clearly understood, progress is not going far. The difference between fifty years ago and now is not even debatable as anyone who has lived through this period will affirm.
“Communist influence on SDS was limited when the organization was unified. Weatherman was begun as a means to attract youth and was organizing on a cultural basis not a political basis. It did not call for a proletarian revolution but claimed to want to reform our system, stop the War and push Civil Rights, not to establish a dictatorship. Communism was too boring and too foreign to our traditions - hence the claim that there was a New Left.”
Actually, no, even as early as during the so-called “Free Speech Movement” in 1964, the SDS was composed of Red Diaper Babies and was a Communist movement. And in fact, they protested even when just prior to the movement, university president Clark Kerr affirmed that he’ll even allow avowed Communists to give addresses to students and faculty. The “free speech” they demanded was to have the public university allow for unrestrained access of political activities regardless of the expense on academic work, and we’re seeing the effects of that today. In fact, Betty Aptheker, THE leader of the movement, was the daughter of Herbert Aptheker, and besides which was the wife of the Communist organizer Jack Kurzweil. And as far as the Civil Rights, barring Martin Luther King’s movement, most of the Civil Rights movement was actually an attempt to recruit American Blacks into the Communist party. Heck, Tom Hayden even referred to himself as an anti-anti-Communist, which is a communist in all but name. Even David Horowitz and Ron Radosh can verify all of this, being former leftists/Communists themselves, and people who most certainly were also heavily involved back then.
“After the split the three factions coming out of it took different approaches. Only RYMII and the PLP seriously made an effort to organized the workers, and RYMII was more concerned with neighborhood organizing eventually leading to the election of one of its dimmer bulbs to the Chicago City Council, Helen Schliller.”
Actually, it was Communist even before the split. I’ll even give you the name of the book I learned this in. It’s the Politically Incorrect Guide to the 1960s. Heck, I even gave you names of some of the leaders who made clear in some way or another that they were commies, many of whom dated back to even the Free Speech Movement.
“Weatherman was basically anarcho-syndicalist and eventually terrorist believing in the Propaganda of the Deed. A tactic commonly used was to get in the faces of the students and challenge their beliefs and knowledge. The members would go into a college lunchroom and start screaming at the diners trying to get a rise out of them and cause trouble. Their philosophy was to organize through Action not spouting the virtues of a Proletarian Revolution or Marxism of any strip. This is what turned them to violence not Maoist theory where terrorism is either marginal or massive.”
Actually, it WAS Maoism that was what the Weathermen adhered to. Conservapedia made that much clear, and besides which, Conservapedia also made it VERY clear that they were Communists. Heck, they even specifically stated they wanted their friends in North Vietnam to win.
“A fundamental contradiction for the organization in following Mao was that there were no peasants to organize. Maos Little Red Book was popular in all of them but was as much a product of Sun Tsu as Mao.”
Actually, they didn’t need peasants, they just needed to stoke the hatred of any minorities to get the job done, especially when they were essentially considered similar to the peasant class anyways.
“It is of limited interest to me what your sources are saying since I was intimately involved in these events.”
The guys whose sources I gave ALSO were intimately involved in them. And you can also read up on this as well: https://archive.org/details/TheWayTheWindBlewAHistoryOfTheWeatherUnderground Also, just ask David Horowitz, who also lived through that time period just as you did, and clearly changed his tune after witnessing his friend get killed by the Black Panthers.
“You are completely wrong about the media which is not just the news media but all recorded entertainment. Then we had Bob Hope now we have John Leibowitz. Then we had Lucile Ball now Kathy Griffin. Even the novelists were conservative for the most part. Newspapers ran comic strips which varied from Family humor to overt anti-communism, even Christian themes (Peanuts).”
The mainstream media, the news stations, in other words, were definitely far to the left, especially after Walter Lippmann’s so-called “objective journalism” idea came about where he freely admitted its point was to manufacture consent by lying to people through their teeth in his book Public Opinion. Yes, TV series were still very much Conservative by that time, but TV series were generally also fiction, while news media generally were closer to giving actual facts about the world, a role they were all too eager to exploit to push the left onto the unsuspecting masses at the time.
“Same is true wrt the Democrat Party, my father, a Yellow Dog Democrat, would never be in that party today. This is simply a fact, an unavoidable fact. All but one of the Senators from the South were solidly conservative and anti-Communist. Not only is that the case but the difference in the beliefs of the parties was far smaller than today.”
If that was truly the case, please explain why Ronald Reagan, who WAS one of those Blue Dog Democrats, switched parties and made clear that his reason for doing so was because the Communists already heavily infiltrated it?
“Richard Nixon was not a conservative just an ambitious guy who rode anti-communism to power but he was a liberal in regard to civil rights. There was no clear ideological split in the parties, merely differences around the edges. It was Nothing like today where the differences are clear and irreconcilable. If the difference between periods of history are not clearly understood, progress is not going far. The difference between fifty years ago and now is not even debatable as anyone who has lived through this period will affirm.”
I never mentioned Nixon in that post, I mentioned Ronald Reagan, who actually WAS a former democrat until around the time the HUAC investigations came about, and he quit the Democrat Party precisely BECAUSE it was heavily infiltrated by Communists even back then.
Just face it, everything you think you know about the time period, even with your living through it, was a lie, just like how our being told that President Clinton was a great president was a lie even when I lived through it, or that he attempted to stop Osama Bin Laden.
You have no idea of just how this political climate differs from
from that of 50 yrs ago. There is no similarity between that time
and now. There were Leftists infiltrating and trying to destroy
the country but NEVER would politicians have taken the positions
the democrat/media screams from the roof tops. What passes as middle of the road
politics today would have been considered Nutcase Radicalism and
laughed of the public stage.
I just lost a long thread because of the idiotic Windows 10 and do not
have the energy to rewrite it. However, your view of the AWM is
far too monolithic and not representative of the reality of that time.
Same is true wrt to your view of the media and the Democrats.
The fact there were conservative Democrats does not suggest that
that Reagan should not have been dissatisfied with the influence
of the Left. As I said before there was little difference in political
parties in terms of ideology nothing like the irreconcilable
split of today.
“You have no idea of just how this political climate differs from that of 50 yrs ago. There is no similarity between that time and now. There were Leftists infiltrating and trying to destroy the country but NEVER would politicians have taken the positions the democrat/media screams from the roof tops. What passes as middle of the road politics today would have been considered Nutcase Radicalism and laughed of the public stage.”
Oh, I have a fairly good idea of how the political climate differed, but I just think the left just hid it better than most back then. If there truly was a stark difference like you said there was, the Free Speech Movement would NEVER have gotten off the ground, and in fact, its ring leaders would have been rightfully denounced as radicals and laughed off by even the administrators, not capitulating to them like cowards.
“I just lost a long thread because of the idiotic Windows 10 and do not have the energy to rewrite it. However, your view of the AWM is far too monolithic and not representative of the reality of that time. Same is true wrt to your view of the media and the Democrats.”
I agree that the AWM was not actually a representative view of reality (after all, Nixon won in a landslide). However, they got face time, and the media if anything was on their side, not reporting against them (just look at Walter Cronkite’s endorsement of them, even got an FBI file on him as a result). And join the club regarding reboots erasing everything you’ve written. I’ve had to deal with a LOT of that myself, either a tab basically having to refresh automatically, or my screen going blank after going frozen, or the monitor just up and out losing any connection to the computer, many times resulting in my being forced to force-restart the system.
“The fact there were conservative Democrats does not suggest that Reagan should not have been dissatisfied with the influence of the Left. As I said before there was little difference in political parties in terms of ideology nothing like the irreconcilable split of today.”
I wasn’t saying or even implying that Ronald Reagan should have been satisfied with the influence of the left (and quite frankly, I’m glad he was dissatisfied with the left’s growing influence, since if it weren’t for that, we wouldn’t have such a great president making America Great Again before Trump). I was saying that if there was little real difference between Democrats and Republicans back then, especially compared to today, there would have been little need for him to even defect to the Republican party.
If the power of the Left was as you say, we would be under a full-fledged Totalitarian regime now and elections would be pre-determined. There would be no Trump under such a system. We have just passed through a critical period and escaped by the skin of our teeth. Illegal surveillance of private citizens was in full swing through the intelligence agencies. Government was working against politicians as never before. And we only have seen the tip of the ice-berg.
“If the power of the Left was as you say, we would be under a full-fledged Totalitarian regime now and elections would be pre-determined. There would be no Trump under such a system. We have just passed through a critical period and escaped by the skin of our teeth. Illegal surveillance of private citizens was in full swing through the intelligence agencies. Government was working against politicians as never before. And we only have seen the tip of the ice-berg.”
Yeah, and we passed through a critical period through the skin of our teeth with Ronald Reagan as well. And even with Nixon, we managed to just barely get by until the left decided to do trumped up charges, with the media leading the bandwagon, to basically remove a sitting president without even needing to fire a gun. And one of the people in charge, the so-called “most trusted man in America” Walter Cronkite, even went as far as to advocate for one-world government later on and makes his radical left-wing sympathies all too apparent once he’s off the air (and even when he was on the air, hints at slanting the news to the left was already present). And have you forgotten that Walter Lippman, aka, the father of modern journalism and the guy who founded the so-called school of “objective journalism”, specifically intended to manufacture public consent via the use of stereotypes? That we even managed to drive off the left despite their total control is largely due to the populace’s conservativism and the silent majority, and not at all to do with any particular similarities between parties or the media being conservative (even during the 1920s, much less the 1960s and today, it was far to the left, as were the university systems. Or have you forgotten the Free Speech Movement that was organized by communists and red diaper babies.).
Oswald. Sixth floor. With a rifle.
Well, here’s the truth.....
Reagan won landslides, he did not just squeak by. But it was a vote for the personality, not ideology, since his enormous votes did not translate into the Congressional elections.
Nixon’s last election was also a landslide and the Democrats ran an ex-bomber pilot. McGovern may have been many things but was not a traitor. Those days are nothing like now. Obama and Hillary would have been boo’ed off the stage by DEMOCRATS much less the American People.
The Silent Coupe was perpetrated by forces we believed to be on our side: the FBI and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. This is where the damaging Deep Throat information came from
I also believe the CIA was involved through the revelation that there were tapes (have no proof of this, it is just an opinion). This information was HANDED to the Left.
Walter Lippmann was a columnist and he was not a communist.
He was critical of the Cold War policy of “Containment” not because he underestimated or wanted to increase the danger of the USSR. His critique of “X” proposal was correct in that it took longer than estimated to bring down the Soviet Union, over twice as long as the estimated 10-15 years. He also believed Kennan’s theory would allow the Soviets the strategic advantage while we were playing defense. So they could decide when and where conflict would occur. That appears also to be true.
Cronkite’s love of One World government was not that unusual among idealists. Heck, Wendell Wilkie advocated one world government. Many idealists also believed that nationalism had failed and produced wars and pointed to the first half of the 20th century as evidence.
The AWM’s leaders were primarily concerned about domestic issues and were not pro-Soviet. It was a discredited brand. The organizations were composed of hard-core Leftists, star-struck idealists and Useful Idiots and the Leftists were not that effective or popular. They had to suppress their ideology and concentrate on the popular issues: civil rights and war. There also would never win over the majority of our population and their actions led directly to the election of Nixon. After Chicago the Democrats had no chance, had that not happened Humphrey would have slaughtered Nixon.
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