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Moe FonerMoe Foner
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Session:         Page of 592

Foner:

I don't know. I could find out by looking at the clips. Wechsler to Mrs. Roosevelt. But you see, you're now dealing with --

Q:

I'm not sure you told me the Wechsler Mrs. Roosevelt part of that story. You want to tell me that?

Foner:

The first time I went to Wechsler, I had remembered him from student days, but I didn't go to him on that basis anymore. But people had said, “He's a nice guy.” So I went to him, and he listened to me, and said, “Have you spoken to Mrs. Roosevelt?”

I said, “What do you mean?”

“You ought to talk to her.”

“How am I going to talk to Mrs. Roosevelt?”

By the end of the day, I was meeting with Mrs. Roosevelt. Wechsler said I should keep in touch with him, and I did. He began to write columns and then editorials. He opened it up in the white press, in the commercial press.

Then we had the thing with Evans Clark. You know the Max Steinback Award?

Q:

Yes.

Foner:

Max Steinbach was the editor of the RWDSU Record. He had been a YPSL. But this time everybody was very excited about what was happening, a shot in the arm by anybody who was close. Bernie Stephens, who was at that time on the Record, whom I knew from 65, Bernie used to come over and he used to help put out leaflets and brochures and things for us after work, gratis, because Bernie was an old friend of Davis'. The Davises had been at Bernie's and Liz Stephens' wedding, because Bernie years and years before had edited the 1199 magazine. So he knew them, too. I knew Bernie. Bernie wanted to be involved.

So Max one day said to me, “You know, there's a guy at the Times, you can probably get a letter in,” Evans Clark. And that's how I began with Evans Clark, member of the editorial board at the Times, calling him up and asking if we can get a letter.

So he said, “Okay.” I sent a copy of the letter to him and to the letters editor under Davis' name.

After a while, it appeared. Nothing happened, and I called him up and I said, “Nothing?”





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