The Home Front:
BOHN, WILLIAM E.
THE HOME FRONT By William E. Bohn Infiltrating ADA's 1955 Convention THIS IS a report to conservatives all over the United States. During the campaign last fall, good friends of mine were...
...They are active in politics, but they pride themselves on not belonging to either party...
...They discuss each item by itself—tariff, war, peace, wages, civil liberties, international law, United Nations, farm problems, taxes...
...I read every document and listened to every statement...
...And they are not in too much of a hurry about it...
...Once, they said that the Communist party is engaged in a conspiracy against the U.S...
...I saw there Congressmen, businessmen, college professors, farmers, trade-union leaders, housekeepers, merchants, manufacturers, experts of all sorts...
...Among the other speakers were Senators Humphrey and Morse and Gen...
...As Wayne Morse said, he is tired of talking about the bat-boys...
...If I am to judge by the temper exhibited at Washington, I would say that this aggregation of citizens, including the leaders of practically all the trade unions in this country, are prepared to put up the most vigorous campaign in their history...
...During the campaign last fall, good friends of mine were accused of being pinks or reds...
...Up to recently, the ADA has been rather slow and soft and gentle with President Eisenhower...
...It is true that the Democrats, too, were attacked...
...I kept asking myself what the members of the convention meant when they classified themselves as liberals...
...And one of the best things about them was that they were willing to listen to one another...
...Nobody seemed to think that if we adopted some magic formula we could jump into Utopia one bright morning...
...Telford Taylor...
...At least three times, the members declared clearly their convictions about our decreasing Bolshevik opponents...
...The delegates conscientiously went over long programs dealing with domestic and world problems...
...Nobody stopped to ask any abstract questions about the meaning of the word...
...For the most part, they support Democratic candidates, but in many cases they swing over to Republicans...
...You haven't enough members to control any election...
...I said to them: "Look...
...Victor Reuther spoke for the CIO and William F. Schnitzler for the AFL...
...Their patience with this procrastinating, big-business...
...I am sure that when ultraconservatives meet they do not have among them more persons of responsibility and distinction...
...Again, they came out for the right of citizens to advocate unpopular ideas but denied that this privilege should include the right to promote Communism...
...Among them were men and women of every imaginable profession...
...How were they different from other people...
...This year, it was sharp and bitter...
...They are merely decent, reasonable people who want to improve the world...
...They were very determined about defending the rights of teachers, but they said clearly that present membership in the Communist party is adequate reason for discharge...
...More than that, I talked to a lot of the members, found where they were from, what they were like, what they were driving at...
...what do you think you are doing...
...In this convention, there was proof of a significant change in the attitude toward the national administration...
...People said to me: "No...
...All the time was devoted to definite and practical proposals...
...and that its members are Soviet spies...
...trickledown administration is worn out...
...Toward the end, I made up my mind that they are really not very different...
...On the average, they were young, but there were plenty of persons of ripe age...
...But the complaint against them was that they have been too easy-going with the Administration...
...The only evidence was that these Democratic candidates were members of Americans for Democratic Action...
...So were the people from the Midwest...
...We don't have great crowds, but we are a people-rousing contingent, an intelligence-spreading outfit...
...Over and over again, I asked ADA members what they consider their job...
...Eisenhower is the pitcher of the Republican tearn, and he must be knocked out of the box...
...if we can get the voters excited, they will take an interest in one thing after another: we will gradually get a better life...
...In the elections of 1956, the ADA is all set to go along with the New Deal-Fair Deal crowd...
...All these men spoke sharply against President Eisenhower and all of his men and ideas...
...The word which these men and women used to describe themselves was "liberal...
...The Texans were often heard from...
...Now I want to say to my fellow citizens far and wide that these ADAers don't look, act, talk or smell like Communists...
...There were vigorous delegations from the South...
...So it seemed obvious that I could serve my country well by infiltrating the convention to be held by this organization last week in Washington...
...This whole bi-partisan, non-partisan crowd rose to this sort of talk with roars of support...
...The answers which I got showed remarkable agreement...
...I sat faithfully through all the sessions...
...The metropolitan East did not run the show...
...There were in the convention substantial delegations from almost every state...
Vol. 38 • April 1955 • No. 14
