Posted on 01/09/2010 9:09:37 PM PST by CondoleezzaProtege
LOL
Sometimes people who are denounced as crackpot really are crackpots.
Sometimes they are wise people being smeared by their opponents.
A smart person tries to differentiate.
Yes. This is the first positive thing I have read about Romney in years.
Reagan Man: The JBS did not oppose Reagan’s two campaigns for Governor of California. And in 1980, Robert Welch (head of the JBS) told reporters that he planned to vote for Reagan for President.
The article you posted contains a factual error.
Cleon Skousen’s publication entitled “The Communist Attack on the John Birch Society” — was NOT a “book”. It was a 12-page pamphlet which, incidentally, you can see here:
http://www.zeios.com/OurRepublic/Article/27
Despite Mr. Skousen’s reputation as a knowledgeable and authoritative researcher, his “Communist Attack” article contains major factual errors and reveals incredible analytical shallowness.
Furthermore, Mr. Skousen and his admirers (such as the John Birch Society) misrepresented his FBI career.
For a detailed report on Skousen which is based, primarily, upon documents in his FBI personnel file (and a related file), see: http://ernie1241.googlepages.com/skousen
While Reagan didn't alienate any voter, he said if individuals wanted to accept his philosophy that was fine with him, but he wasn't buying the philosophy of any group. This is what Reagan had this to say about the JBS:
"I have never been and I am not now a member of the John Birch Society, nor do I have any intention of ever becoming a member. I have never sought Birch Society support, nor do I have any intention of doing so should I become a candidate for public office. In my opinion those persons who are members of the John Birch Society have a decision to make concerning the reckless and imprudent statements of their leader, Mr.[Robert]Welch".
Ronald Reagan, September. 24, 1965, Ref: "Reagan: a life in letters", pages 171-172.
In 1980, the Public Relations Director for JBS, John McManus had said Reagan was a "lackey" for communist conspirators. Robert Welch denounced McManus for his remarks about Reagan, but later realized Reagan didn't meet his expectations as potus.
The answer as to what the JBS did to save the country was, apparently, “They had meetings and talked to each other.”
ReaganMan: The JBS, as an organization, did not (as you wrote) “oppose Reagan’s agenda for/as Governor and President”.
Some specific members of (and writers for) the JBS were hostile toward Reagan as President but, as I pointed out in my previous message, in 1980, Robert Welch announced that he planned to vote for Reagan. Mrs. Welch subsequently resigned from the JBS partly because of what she considered the unfair attacks upon Reagan in the JBS magazine.
Interestingly, many of the politicians whom the JBS scored at 100% on their “Conservative Index” (such as Sen. Jesse Helms and Cong. Ron Paul) were glowing in their praise of what Reagan accomplished -— although, in later years, Cong. Paul expressed disappointment that Reagan did not dismantle more of government.
Since the Birch Society is a highly ideological organization, and is composed of people who rarely have extensive political experience, they approach all public policy matters with absolutist certitudes. In the real-world, incremental change is the norm. Reagan was able to transform government and motivate a new generation of conservative leaders in ways which no previous Republican had ever achieved. 100 years from now, there will still be books and doctoral dissertations written about his impact upon our country -— whereas the Birch Society will be totally forgotten.
Marron: Your comment suggesting that the Venona papers confirmed Sen. McCarthy’s hallucinations is completely false.
One of our nation’s foremost scholars about the McCarthy period (Dr. John Earl Haynes) has written several articles which compare McCarthy’s assertions to newly available data including, for example, the Venona papers and material in KGB archives.
See for example:
(1) Senator Joseph McCarthy’s Lists and Venona
http://www.johnearlhaynes.org/page62.html
(2) Exchange with Arthur Herman and Venona book talk
http://www.johnearlhaynes.org/page58.html
With respect to Joe McCarthy:
Whittaker Chambers summed it up pretty well in his 1/14/54 letter about McCarthy to conservative book publisher Henry Regnery, when Chambers observed that....
“All of us, to one degree or another, have slowly come to question his judgment and to fear acutely that his flair for the sensational, his inaccuracies and distortions, his tendency to sacrifice the greater objective for the momentary effect, will lead him and us into trouble. In fact, it is no exaggeration to say that we live in terror that Senator McCarthy will one day make some irreparable blunder which will play directly into the hands of our common enemy and discredit the whole anti-Communist effort for a long while to come.”
FBI security informant Herbert Philbrick told a Boston newspaper reporter that:
“He [McCarthy] harmed the cause of anti-communism more than anybody I know.”
And in 1952, Philbrick observed:
“According to the Communist leaders, McCarthy has helped them a great deal. McCarthy’s kind of attacks add greatly to the confusion, putting up a smokescreen for the Party and making it more difficult than ever for people to discern who is a communist and who is not.”
FBI Supervisor, Robert J. Lamphere, supervised the investigations of some of the biggest espionage cases of the cold war, including those of the Rosenbergs, Klaus Fuchs and Kim Philby plus he was intimately involved, in conjunction with Meredith Knox Gardner of the Army Security Agency, in using deciphered Soviet cables to build espionage cases.
Lamphere wrote on pages 136-137 of his 1968 book “The FBI-KGB War: A Special Agent’s Story” that:
“Senator McCarthy’s crusade which was to last for the next several years, was always anathema to me. McCarthy’s approach and tactics hurt the anti-Communist cause and turned many liberals against legitimate efforts to curtail Communist activities in the United States, particularly in regard to government employment of known Communists…McCarthy’s star chamber proceedings, his lies and overstatements hurt our counterintelligence efforts.”
Interestingly, Mitt Romney’s dad (George) made the following comment about the Birch Society and the GOP when he was Governor of Michigan:
“I think the party’s future depends upon repudiating the John Birch Society as an organization and avoiding any possibility of the society developing influence within the Party. I think this is because from experience, I have found that the John Birch Society as an organization uses methods of infiltration and subversion and tactics that we associate with other secret organizations like the Communists. And while there are members of the society that I am sure are not themselves responsible for such conduct, this conduct on the part of the organization makes it essential, as far as I’m concerned, that the Republican Party repudiate the John Birch Society as an organization.”
Cited in Chapman v. Romney, Docket #1810, Michigan Court of Appeals, 2/14/67 [6 Mich App 36 (1967); 148N.W. 2d 230]. Chapman, a member of the JBS, sued Gov. Romney for slander. The Court found in favor of Governor Romney.
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