J. Edgar Hoover Quotes

Seeger’s admission was typical of tens of thousands of Americans who had become disillusioned with the fairness, equity, and effectiveness of capitalism during the depression. They were easy prey for Communist propaganda which pointed out all the problems in American society from legal racial discrimination to lack of a social safety net while at the same time lying about the Russian achievements and hiding the horrible abuses of human rights—especially the political murders of millions of people. Then the truth about Russia emerged, Seeger and so many others abandoned the Communist Party as at the same time America was improving its society and beginning to try and deal with the great problem that had plagued America from its inception—racism and slavery.

This quotation appears to be the origin of the ultra-right wing conspiracy theory that a communist will become President of the United States without the public ever knowing that he was a Communist. During the Obama administration, there were a number of ultra-rightists who believed that Obama was the culmination of this plan which the communists began in the 1950s and was only "discovered" Fred Koch and the John Birchers in 1963.

who worked with the Communists. The Communists were to Flip-flop again when Russia needed arms and assistance to fight Hitler when the pact broke down. See {595773}

This was the typical language of the 1940’s and 1950’s at the height of the Red Scare used by the FBI and others to smear their opponents and political enemies. Seldes had published an article very critical of the FBI and its investigations of labor unions and other liberal organizations. See George Seldes, 1940 quotation.

Even the President was not spared during the McCarthy era. The red scare was so pervasive, that a lunatic fringe ultra right wing organization could call the President a “communist dupe” and be taken seriously be much of the media who were themselves intimidated and might be accused of being communists at any moment. It was a very low point in America’s history.

So often in America, citizens and government officials have made alliances or joined organizations under the theory that “the enemy of my enemy must be my friend.” It has almost always been a mistake ranging from joining the Communist Party in the 1930s to supporting the dictators or the Middle East, Asia, and South America. In the 1930s Fascism was growing and already on the march and neither America nor England—the leading democracies were not doing anything to combat the threat. America was emerging from the Great Depression, had a string Isolationist movement, and a small but influential group of Fascists and Hitler enthusiasts. Also, no one outside of Russia knew about the Stalin atrocities.

Howe was specifically referring to the Gastonia strike of 1929. The Communists, never known for their skill at organizing labor action, sold out the workers in order to have a political issue to campaign on throughout the world. Meanwhile, the Southern establishment saw the strike as an Armageddon where Communism and racial integration had to be stopped cold and therefore not only refused even reasonable demands, but used the National Guard {592420} and law enforcement authorities to murder and jail innocent people. Both sides got what they wanted unfortunately, with the communists cleverly exposing to the rest of the world, the worst of Southern racism. All civil rights protests thereafter in America were claimed by the Southern segregationists to be communist organized, and even affirmative action efforts are still often so labeled.

The Red Scare had already reached most conservatives and Truman and most others had not yet been affected by the fear of Communism that so many people had through the 1970s.

Yale University had announced the discovery of a Norse map called the Vinland Map. It was an old Viking map that showed the East Coast of America and Canada as well as Greenland and Iceland. It purported to prove that the Vikings had been to America before Columbus. This was shocking and unbelievable to large numbers of Italian Americans many of whom lived in New York City. Most Italian Americans rejected the possibility that the map could be genuine, but there had to be a reason that it was forged. In the midst of the Cold War, there was an obvious villain and it did not take long before large numbers of people believed and repeated the headline. The quotation shows how rabid the anti-Communism of the Cold War was. The authenticity of the Vinland Map is still debated. Ironically, Columbus—the “discoverer” of America, never got to North America at all. He landed in and captured some islands in the Caribbean. The Daily News was then the largest circulation newspaper in the United States.

This was only 6 years after the Russian Revolution. Communist Russia had extended its influence to much of the world without firing a shot. To many, communism looked like the future. The Russian inability to make communism work economically in the next 70 years destroyed most of its influence.

WWII had come while most of the world was still recovering from the Great Depression. Communists, the world over, were expecting a major revolution in America, Britain and most industrial nations. However, continuation of Theodore Roosevelt’s reforms, the Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal, the strong American wartime economy, Eleanor Roosevelt’s human rights accomplishments at the UN, the Marshall Plan and Truman’s support of non-communist governments in Europe, and the Labor Party coming to power in Great Britain produced an atmosphere of progress and hope, which provided an alternative to a proletarian revolution and communism. The Cold War then was the only road for international communism.