>So Frances Bolton grew up without Commies being demonized? Anyone else
here
>under, say, age 35 who didn't imbibe the equivalence of Reds and Satan
from
>birth?
>
>Doug
>
A creepy man lived across the street from the house I grew up in. His crib truly was a thicket of privacy, with big leafy trees and ivy over the front of the house. He used to park his car half in the bushes. Once following a burglary on our block he came by. Why he came by I'm not exactly sure, or if he stopped by every other house on the block. He said the Communists were responsible, and mentioned something about the "aliens" that had started coming by houses looking for work (I grew up about 40 miles from the Tijuana border). I was very young and impressionable, but thought rather this guy was pretty wack, than Commies were bad. However, he embodied the scare.
With Camp Pendleton just north, the US Navy base south in Coronado Bay, and Miramar Air Force Base (immortalized in _Top Gun_) inland, we were prime target real estate. Yes, Communists were a threat because the USSR was a threat (I'm thinking of the Reagan years in particular).
However, the Communist threat was vaguely specified. I don't remember the American CP being demonized so much. In fact I think I was lucky because one of my history teachers in high school was an outspoken Communist. She had us read Zinn, and would always find a way of bringing Anarchists Sacco & Vanzetti into what it was we were discussing. She was great.
But with F14's flying daily overhead, and the occasional sonic boom, how could one not imbibe the climate of the Red Scare?
-Alec
______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com