Subversive Activity Quotes
The Illuminati was a secret society. At the time, anyone who differed with the Church on issues of philosophy, ethics or religion could be tortured and burned at the stake, and anyone who criticized the Monarchy could be tortured and hung or beheaded. The result was the concept of a secret society of which the Illuminati was one.
Commenting on student demonstrations protesting the House Un-American Activities Committee:
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.
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.
At the time many Protestant evangelicals viewed Catholics as subversive to the American way of life because of their allegiance to the Pope and parts of Catholic Theology. The Christian Evangelicals in America have been split on their views of immigration. See {632914} for an example of a contrary position.
Berger had been convicted as a “traitor” for an editorial he had written opposing WWI {587982}. By a 311 to 1 vote, Burger was denied his seat in Congress, and then he was re-elected again anyway. Finally, the Supreme Court overturned his conviction and the House seated him. See {587980} for the single Congressman who opposed unseating him.
Kennedy was not being literal, but was sarcastically joking about the overemphasis that J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI leadership was placing on investigating civil rights leaders and communists instead of investigating the hundreds of Southern murders and assaults on civil rights workers and organized crime. The FBI leadership was itself quite racist at the time, and Hoover never wanted to take on organized crime. He did not regard organized crime as an existential threat to the United States (the way he did about civil rights demonstrations) and he feared that with the big money available to organized crime, many of his agents would be corrupted.
