Gay Edgar had a crush on him.

Ya, we all know there never was a commie threat to the US.

Perhaps Sniper would care to enlighten us as to why the authorities kept files on so many people who were clearly not Communists, and why in this "democracy" one was required to declare one was not a Communist in so many forms.

we all know there never was a commie threat to the US

There was undeniably a Soviet threat. Communism as an ideology was never much of a danger to our country, though. It just happened to be the ideology of one of our adversaries, and it scared the shit out of the influential individuals who benefited from our quasi-capitalist economy.

The panic was somewhat understandable. During the cold war, humanity was just beginning to cope with its newly discovered ability to annihilate itself. In the 20/20 vision of hindsight, it seems so silly.

Hey anybody who can Think is a "threat" to the FBI,CIA,NSA...and the entire US Govt!!!

Good to know that none of us here is a threat then, Anti....

There was no real threat. It was hyped by the media.

Ya, we all know there never was a commie threat to the US.

#2 | Posted by Sniper

Bigger threat from the right-see McViegh and the Klan. FDR did a great job of protecting democracy from both the commies and the nazis during the Great Depression.

So they kept a file on him...big deal...my OB has a file on me...so does the IRS...and CRA's...as long as what they do with that file on me is subject to and enforced by law. That's what I care about.

we all know there never was a commie threat to the US
There was undeniably a Soviet threat. Communism as an ideology was never much of a danger to our country, though. It just happened to be the ideology of one of our adversaries, and it scared the shit out of the influential individuals who benefited from our quasi-capitalist economy.
The panic was somewhat understandable. During the cold war, humanity was just beginning to cope with its newly discovered ability to annihilate itself. In the 20/20 vision of hindsight, it seems so silly.

#4 | POSTED BY ZOMBIEHUNTER AT 2009-11-18 07:56 PM | REPLY | FLAG

Ahh bullshit
The people who went on Pinko Commie hunts were the same as the people who hunted Jews in Germany, The same people who Purged all Counter-Revolutionaries in Russia and the same people who see an islamofacist under every bed today.

In short.
Shit heads who crave power at any cost and see fear and persecution as the most direct path to power. And required a scape goat to remain there. The boogey man to scare the simpleminded with.

Same song different lyrics.

McCarthy wanted so bad to be president that when he failed it actually killed him.

If someone had blocked Stalin or Hitler in their respective paths to power, they might have had the same end and with so much less suffering all around.

The true strength of our system, was once people finally pulled the veil of idiocy away from their own eyes they saw McCarthy for what he was. With Germany and Russia the state control of every aspect of the people's life prevented that reality check.

The truly scary question we face today is, who is trying to fool us, and can we be as tough and smart as we were then. Even so the Red scare of the 50's lasted almost 8 years. Both Truman and Eisenhower were either unwilling or unable to curb his lunacy.

His lunacy was the idea that having a thought was a crime, that Stating that thought was a crime. That speaking to others about that thought was a crime.

Right now at least, you can speak your mind, and merely be shouted down by the rest of the mob rather than having the state do it. But either way you, with a few exceptions, wont be deprived of your lively hood, or black listed from employment, or imprisoned.

McCarthy wanted so bad to be president that when he failed it actually killed him.

Too bad one of our intrepid patriots didn't speed that process along. McCarthy was more of a traitor to our nation than Sacco, Vanzetti, the Rosenbergs, or any other Soviet sympathizer.

The FBI kept a file and actively tracked Studs Terkel fer decades?

Cos they thought he might be a commie?

Seeing as Studs was a life long activist and a big teller of truth to power this should come as no surprise to anyone.

Apparently, the rule is that folks can find out if they are on the FBI's persons of interest list but only after they are dead?

Well, better late than never.

His file ends in 1990, when agents clipped a Wall Street Journal article quoting his reaction to financier Michael Milken's junk-bond scandal.

Cos anyone disgusted with greed fueled financial shenanigans of Wall Street types must be an "anti-American"?

Such FAIL.

"We live in a corrupt, amoral moment," Terkel said.

Amen, Brother.

If you've never read on of Studs Terkel's books then you've missed out big time.

Good eye as always, Rein.

Ya, we all know there never was a commie threat to the US.

The threat was deliberately overly exaggerated in order to sow fear in the hearts of Americans and stop them from asking legitimate questions of their own government.

A Soviet takeover of Europe was never on the books for the USSR and the US government knew this all along.

Communism, as it was practiced under the Soviets, never had a chance to overtake Democracy as an ideology in the US or in any other industrialized western nation.

Just so ya know, the same exaggerations are currently being made in the "War on Terror" that has recently supplanted the failed "War on Drugs" as being the rationalization for American military adventurism around the globe.

K?

Be Well.

/As he do
stage left.

same pack of fools that had the information they needed about the 9/11 hijackers and couldnt make sense of it

The FBI was too busy watching people like Studs, when they should have been watching people like their own Robert Hanson.

I wonder if they thought Hanson was a communist.

A Soviet takeover of Europe was never on the books for the USSR and the US government knew this all along.

Given all of the expansionism the USSR enjoyed, you shouldn't make such a statement as if it was fact.

Studs Terkel - TRUE HERO of the WORKING CLASS!

Will miss you greatly Mr. Terkel.

No surprise THE MAN watched Terkel because he is an example of the greatest threat to the capitalist scam. Someone who can see the shocking abuses of capitalism combined with a level of activism to communicate this information.

Never heard of an FBI file EVER stopping ANY political activist from doing anything so one wonders what the Feds hoped to achieve from this surveillance. Other than harassment of the subject never seen any effective results from these files whatsoever!

There have been instances such as with Fred Hampton where the FBI just went in and killed the guy rather than tolerate him any more.

The Chicago Police killed Fred Hampton.

He joins the pantheon with John Lennon.