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John B. OakesJohn B. Oakes
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Q:

On November 1, 1981 you wrote an article called “The Reagan Hoax.” Do you remember that?

Oakes:

I remember the title and I remember that I did write such a piece, but without actually looking at the piece I don't remember precisely what I said the hoax was.

Q:

Well, you accused him of “mindless militarism vs. real foreign policy” and commented that he had--

Oakes:

That's something I didn't mention a moment ago, and I sure would add that to the list of Reagan's: super-nationalism combined with militarism that was, I believe, a substitute for foreign policy.

Q:

Well, you commented that there was a fifty percent increase in defense, and a fifty percent cut in the environmental budget.

Oakes:

I remember the piece, now that you bring that back to me. And all I can say is I think I was one hundred percent right. This is a dozen years later, a dozen years after that piece appeared. I wouldn't take back a word of it.

Q:

No, and I wouldn't want to argue about that, either. But going back to that particular time period, you wrote a number of hard-hitting pieces like that one about Watt, about Reagan, and described him in extremely sharp, critical prose. How typical was that of that time period? Were other people writing these sorts of pieces, attacking him on the





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