Saint Ronnie Committed A Felony...Seriously!

...and cross-dressing J. Edgar helped.

BWAHAhahahahah!

Ronald Reagan committed a felony

Submitted by Rick Perlstein on June 27, 2007 - 4:28pm.

You read that right, too. And I'm not talking about violating the Boland Amendment

It's a piece of trivia I picked up researching my forthcoming book on Richard Nixon. I've always been surprised it's not widely known. San Francisco Chronicle reporter Seth Rosenfeld, after a long legal battle, was able to obtain the FBI's files on the Unviversity of California Berkeley and composed an amazing series in 2002 that included this astounding tidbit:

As governor, Reagan would have access to UC's atomic research data. The Atomic Energy Act required the FBI to conduct a comprehensive background investigation of him.

The process started on Dec. 18, 1966, when Reagan filled out a Personnel Security
Questionnaire that asked, among other questions:

"Are you now, or have you ever been, a member of any organization which has been designated by the United States Attorney General as required under the provisions of Executive Order 10450?

"Are you now, or have you ever been, a member of any foreign or domestic organization, association, movement, group, or combination of persons which is totalitarian, fascist, communist, or subversive . . . ?"

Applicants were required to list any such groups and the dates they were involved with them.
Reagan answered "no" to both questions on the form, which contained a warning that "any false statement herein may be punished as a felony."

Reagan received shining recommendations from everyone the FBI interviewed.

But files of the Los Angeles FBI office showed that in 1946 Reagan had been a sponsor and director of the Committee for a Democratic Far East Policy, which had been designated as subversive by the U.S. Attorney General under Executive Order 10450.

The records also showed that also in 1946 Reagan had been a member of the American Veterans Committee, the California section of which had been cited in a report by the predecessor of the Burns committee as "communist dominated and (as) a vociferous, decadent minority in national AVC affairs."

But Grapp, head of the L.A. office, approved a report that conformed to Reagan's Personnel Security Questionnaire -- omitting Reagan's association with the two groups officially deemed subversive.

When FBI officials in the bureau's headquarters read Grapp's report, they ordered him to amend the document to include Reagan's role in the groups.

The bureau could not risk the omission. Hundreds of people in the late 1940s and early 1950s had faced hearings and sometimes dismissals from federal employment for failing to disclose memberships in groups deemed subversive.

But the final report to the Atomic Energy Commission, prepared by FBI headquarters, did not mention Reagan's false statement that he had never belonged to a subversive organization, which by law could itself be reason to deny a security clearance.

Read the whole article, because the context is amazing. J. Edgar Hoover, who'd been on the hunt for Berkeley president Clark Kerr since the 1950s, saw a Governor Reagan as his chance to get Kerr fired. So, speaking of lawbreaking, he probably conspired to get Reagan elected. The Chronicle reporter depicts the free pass given to Reagan as payback for that favor.

(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. The Lantern has no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of this article nor is The Lantern endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)

....And The Truth Shall Set Us Free

The Reagan Myth

Given the way in which all the Goopers at the so-called debate last week, grabbed for the Reagan mantle (anybody but Bush), they will probably seek Nancy's permission to dig up that old corpse and trot it around the country, again, in 2008

Published on Saturday, May 5, 2007 by CommonDreams.org

The Reagan Myth
by Cherie Miner

How much longer am I going to hear about the great Ronald Reagan? I was sick of it in 1980.

Too young to vote by only five months, I watched helplessly as this B-movie actor “charmed” Americans out of their votes. I read the writing on the wall — I was going to get stuck paying for this man’s play-acting with higher student loans and lost economic opportunities. All because I had the misfortune to be born into the lower middle class. At 17, I could smell the manure that was “trickle-down economics.” And I hadn’t even taken Econ 101 yet.

So it was doubly insulting to me six months later to see this man’s photo from his WHO sportscasting days hanging in Drake University’s Rathskellar, where I ate breakfast every day. Especially as I knew I’d be paying two percentage points more on every student loan I had to take out for college.

When will Americans learn a good dye job and witty comment do not make a great president?

You have to look at the policy, not the P.R.

As citizens, we are most affected by the laws passed under an administration, not the speeches and public appearances. It’s a shell game, and we need to keep our eyes on the hands, not the face.

Now, the Republican Party which so riotously embraced Reagan and his pseudo-heir George W. Bush, is struggling against its own self-destruction. And their entire field of candidates is battling to wear the Reagan mantle, with Fred Thompson being the most obvious imitator in his leap from acting to presidential politics.

Why? Reagan was the man who gave us the federal deficit Clinton had to eliminate. He dismantled the Department of Energy we could now sorely use. Think about all the research lost over the last 27 years. Perhaps we wouldn’t be struggling with rising gas prices now.

This former Hollywood player began the development of the “Star Wars” missile defense system. Do you think it’s a coincidence this system is known by a movie’s name? It’s about as real as Darth Vadar. And we’re still wasting money on it.

Under Reagan, the “me” generation developed, and economic uncertainty increased for middle and low income workers. Starting salaries for college graduates declined. I feel as though I’m reliving the past under the current administration, only it’s worse. Like a nightmare.

And finally, has everyone forgotten Grenada and the Iran-Contra affair? History has revealed the facts of the Reagan years, yet Americans still deny them.

Which is why the Republican field is vying to be Reagan’s conservative heir. They bought the lies, too. Reagan was not a cowboy, any more than George W. Bush is. He just played one.
And 40th President of the United States was his greatest role ever.

Cherie Miner is a parent, community volunteer, freelance writer and artist living and working in Southwest Iowa. In her former life, she was a corporate writer and public relations professional.

(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. The Lantern has no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of this article nor is The Lantern endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)

....And The Truth Shall Set Us Free