Previous | Next
Session: 1234567891011121314 Page 408409410411412413414415416417418419420421422423424425426427428429430431432433434435436437438439440441442443444445446447448449450451452453454455456457458459460461462463464465466467468469470471472473474475476477478479480481482483484485486487488489490 of 763
is it another one of-- is it a real long range threat or is it another one of these threats that comes up from time to time?
Well, let me-- I told you I've been reading these books in order to make some evaluations as to which one of them should get the Bob Kennedy Award, and they are very disturbing. The total pattern of them.
When I was in college, there was a man whose name you know, by the name of Huey Long. And he was a fascinating man and much more insightful than the clownish image in which he was portrayed. And one of the comments which Huey Long made, as far back as when I was in college, which was in the thirties, was that if Fascism ever came to the United States, it would come under the guise of Americanism. I've never forgotten that. And I now look at where we are today and say, well, maybe the term Fascism is not particularly appropriate here, but when you put all of these things in the pattern and synthesize them, you are seeing-- and I hope it's just temporary-- a level of conservatism that's beyond conservatism. And not even the term reactionary makes it clear to me what I am observing.
When I kept saying to you-- and this is the last time I'm going to say it-- that I'm bewildered, confused, do not understand the rationality or the consistency for a number of the things which are being accepted and so on. It indicates to me that we are quietly-- and maybe not so quietly, because Jesse Helms isn't being quiet-- but we are really saying-- and
© 2006 Columbia University Libraries | Oral History Research Office | Rights and Permissions | Help