J. Edgar Hoover's Guantanamo

Forgive the blog delay. Have been in a boxing match with Bronchitis and so far he has fifteen of the sixteen rounds. Spent XMas in the miseries between the coughing. wheezing and snotchering I am not at all certain where I have been and what I have done. A doctor gave me an anti biotic that not only didn’t help but made me “delusional.” And I am sure if you are a regular on my blog you know for sure I didn’t need that since I was there already. Oh well.

A short time ago there was a story in the NY Times The headline read. : A 1950 Plan: Arrest 12.000 and Suspend Due Process.” This was J. Edgar Hoover’s plan at the start of the Korean war in 1950’s to suspend Habeas Corpus and round up 12.000 of us “suspected” of disloyalty.

This is not that far from what George Bush has actually done by putting the “suspects” in Guantanamo Cuba out of the reach of US courts. Harry Truman who was President back in i950 refused to sign Mr. Hoover’s proposal. Keep in mind that this was the era of McCarthyism when through the artifice of fear thousands became victimized by the terror. In some ways like the present a heavy cloud of fear seem to hangover the land.

I am proud to announce that indeed I was one of the 12,000 on the list. In my 700 page FBI file there is Hoovers identification card with my name and assigned number. What got me on the list was a long list of sins I committed like a very popular pamphlet I wrote as New York State President of the Machinists Union against the Taft Hartley Law called “This Is Aimed At You.” The “You” being the average working class wage earner. Opposition to the Korean War and yes Hoover found my support for the UN “suspicious behavior.” Further evidence of my “dangerous character was a designation by the notorious anti union outfit the Chicago Chamber of Commerce naming me as the “most dangerous radical inside the A.F. of L. unions”. ie The Machinists.

Looking back at that time of fear I suppose I could feel highly flattered that I was one of the 12’0000 chosen. Which reminds me of Berthold Brecht of “Three Penny Opera” fame who was truly upset back in the thirties during the Nazis “Book Burning” when he learned that the Nazis had not burned his books.

Could it be, that what we have here is a list of 12,000 people who chose to be the anti war anti fascist resistors of the fifties? Though deprived by history maybe they should be on an honor role of true patriots who chose to stand up for the Constitutional Rights of the citizens.

If I could get a list of the whole bunch I could publish on the blog as an honor role. Wouldn’t that be fun? Okay I will send off a letter to the FBI under “The Freedom Of Information Act” and we can see what happens. Kate, forever vigilant suggests that I need to get permission from all those folks to publish their names. Of course she is right but I suspect that the overwhelming number have departed this potato.

I am going to comeback with thoughts on 2007 as well as the Primary Circus that is now in full swing.

Thank you Kate. N.H.W.Y.