Journalism

For Republicans today, Ronald Reagan provides the gold standard of political virtue. In their view, perhaps his greatest achievement was “winning” the cold war—the icon for which is the Berlin Wall. Pieces of the Wall are on display in a surprising number of American locations, from the low-down (a Las Vegas casino men’s room) to the more upscale (the Microsoft Art Collection in Redmond, Washington). . . .
. . . continued at TheNation.com HERE

George McGovern died today; his 1972 campaign changed many lives, including John Lennon’s.  Lennon had moved to New York City in 1971, and it was his support for McGovern—who died Oct. 21 at age 90—that led the Nixon administration to try to deport the ex-Beatle. The story begins with Jerry Rubin. . .
…continued at TheNation.com HERE

Gore Vidal, who died in July, was one of our greatest novelists and essayists – and yet he never went to college. In a 2007 interview I asked him why not.

“I graduated from [Phillips] Exeter,” he explained, “and I was aimed at going to Harvard. Instead I enlisted in [the Navy] in 1943. When I got out, in ’46, I thought, ‘I’ve spent all my life in institutions that I loathe, including my service in the [Navy] of the United States.’ I thought, ‘Shall I go for another four years?’ . . . … continued at Inside Higher Ed., HERE.

Jeff Glor:  What inspired you to write the book?
Jon Wiener:  I took the tour of the Nevada Test Site and wrote about it for the “Politics of Travel” issue of The Nation magazine. . . .
. . . continued at CBSnews.com HERE

“The ’13 Days in October,” 50 Years Later.”  Conservatives at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis accused President Kennedy of capitulation in the Cuban missile crisis.  No more.
Los Angeles Times op-ed page, Oct. 14, 2012.
http://lat.ms/RqcE8r

“Elvis Presley: America’s Secret Cold War Weapon.”  The King of Rock became a one-man special force against the East Germans, even as he questioned the validity of the conflict itself.
(excerpt from How We Forget the Cold War: A Historical Journey across America.)   The Daily Beast, Oct. 14, 2012.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/10/14/elvis-presley-america-s-secret-weapon-in-the-cold-war.html

Whittaker Chambers’ grandson David  says “Dr. Jon Wiener needs to set some facts straight”  in his article at Salon.com about visiting the Pumpkin Patch National Historic Landmark . . . .
And Dr. Wiener replies, “Readers can be assured I did indeed visit the site.”
. . . continued at Salon.com HERE

“A Visit to the Right’s Least Popular Museum.”    The GOP insisted Whittaker Chambers’ pumpkin patch become a historical site.  It averages two guests a year.  Salon.com, Oct. 13, 2012.
(Excerpted from How We Forgot the Cold War: A Historical Journey across America.)
http://www.salon.com/2012/10/13/wiener_excerpt/

Gore Vidal was not just a novelist and essayist; he also ran for Congress in 1960 in upstate New York. In a 1988 interview I asked him whether there was any gay-baiting in that campaign.

“Even then it was considered bad karma to fuck around with old Gore,” he told me. . .

. . . continued at the Huffington Post HERE

ERIC HOBSBAWM, who died October 1 at age 95, was one of the world’s greatest historians, and also a Marxist. He was not just an academic — he was also a lifelong Communist with a capital “C,” a full-fledged member of the Party since his teenage years.. . .
. . . continued at the LA Review of Books HERE.