Lee Harvey Oswald Quotes

As a relatively political unknown, he took the opportunity to tell the press and the public that he was a part of the New York Tammany Hall Machine. At the time most NY politicians saw this as a political assurance to the voters—as opposed to the reformers who might change things. Political machines were mostly affiliated with the Democratic Party in the large cities. The corruption tended to b Republican outside the cities, except in the South where all government was Democratic in reaction to the Civil War Republican role. When the Democrats strove to eliminate racial discrimination in the 1960s. the racists of the South persuaded the Whites to shift to the Republican Party which then dominated most of the South. The people who controlled the corrupt machines however did not change. The corruption of the Southern machines just became Republican labeled.

He lists a number of employees including his own wife. The foundation was the L. Ron Hubbard Dianetic Research Foundation Inc. In this case a religious leader was asking the government for assistance in determining who was and was not fit to be a member and an associate of his organization. The FBI apparently ignored his accusations, and there was no government action though he continued to accuse associates throughout his life. The FBI agent who met with Hubbard to investigate his charges wrote “mental case” on the file.

McCarthy accused thousands of people of being communists and disloyal. He claimed to have lists of communists in universities, the Army and other agencies of government, but never produced such lists. In addition to being a overbearing demagogue, he suffered (and died from) from a serious case of alcoholism. McCarthy’s false and irresponsible attacks eventually caused the Senate to censure him. That and his drinking destroyed his career. Not a single person “exposed” by McCarthy was ever convicted of anything. Many had their careers destroyed however. A number of universities fired Professors because at an earlier phase of their careers, they had been a member of an organization that was communist or affiliated with communists, and then left. These firings led to intensive efforts to strengthen the rules of tenure and academic freedom so that the McCarthy abuses could never be repeated. McCarthy could not be sued for his defamatory lies as he always made his accusations from the floor of the Senate where there is absolute protection even for malicious and irresponsible statements.

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.

He like many others had signed petitions for good causes that were circulated by Communist organizations. Racists then used that fact to claim that desegregation, voting rights and anti-lynching laws were communist ideas. With the Red Scare operating in the 1950s, Terkel, like so many others were Blacklisted and denied opportunities to earn a living. Many claimed that they had been duped and don’t really believe in these causes. Some like Terkel would not. He opposed most of the Communist programs, but agreed with some. Ironically, ideas like anti-lynching and voting rights which were then labeled as Communist ideology, are today supported by the vast majority of Americans.

This quotation illustrates one end of the range of union leadership regarding communism. Some union leader were communists; some were pro Marxist but against the Russian style of dictatorial communism. Others did not care for Communism at all but saw the communists as an effective tool that really frightened American corporate management and politicians so they looked reasonable by comparison and they therefore wanted the communists around. Last were those like Reuther who was aggressively anti-communist and wanted labor to expel them whenever they turn up. However, what is ironic is that Reuther himself was labeled a Communist by many right wingers who also used Reuther’s “duck” test. Reuther wanted a national health insurance system; so did the Communists. He advocated and end to segregation; so did the Communists. He fought for workers having a say in management, a classic communist demand, and many other similarities.