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Bennett CerfBennett Cerf
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Session:         Page of 1029

year. So this was the result of my acquaintance with George Sokolsky.

Q:

That's very interesting. The question that I asked earlier ...had you ever gotten sort of pressured to publish...

Cerf:

To finish this story about the book about the F.B.I.... I became a close friend of Lou Nichols, and I went down to spend a night with him and his family at his home in Alexandria. He called for me at the Washington airport. As we were driving to Alexandria (the book wasn't out yet) I was telling him that there was an enormous advance sale, great interest, that it would be a great success. I said, “You know, one thing, Lou, that particularly pleases me is that the fact that you're giving me this book means that I must be in pretty good standing with the FBI. My record must be clear.” Lou Nichols said, “Just, my boy, just.” I said, “What do you mean by that?” He said, “You did some pretty silly things when you were a kid.” I said, “Such as?" He said, “Well, that book fair in Madrid. And what about that trip to Spain that you made with that woman, La Pasionaria?" They had it all down. I said, “There were reasons for that.” He said, “We know the reasons. I said that you're all right. But they're on your record. You were just a kid and you believed you were in the right. We like people who will fight for what they believe in. There's nothing communist in what you did. You were duped, like so many other people. We found that all out, but they're on the record, kid.”





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