Re: The NY Times, the Democratic Party and Italian fascism

["Devine, James" <jdevine@xxxxxxx>]

[how does this look?]

>Alan A. Block, "Space, Time & Organized Crime":

>As a way of initially placing the fascist presence in America, consider Mussolini's reception in the United States. According to John P. Diggins' history, Mussolini enjoyed a "vast popularity" which was a "product of the press." Diggins pointed out that "The New York Times" correspondents' writing on Italy approved of fascism and Mussolini. One of the most prolific was Anne O'Hare McCormick who "rhapsodized upon the feats of the Blackshirts and consistently defended the twists and turns of Mussolini's diplomacy, justifying the Ethiopian invasion, the Italian 'volunteers' in Spain, and the Rome-Berlin axis."<

the New York TIMES also had a reporter who loved Stalin. Is it possible that back then the NYT embraced generalized authoritarianism -- or simply suffered from low journalistic standards.

(Back in the 1970s, I went to a chiropractor who was also a right-wing nut (or a right wing-nut, I forget which). But he was a great chiropractor and a lot of Bay Area lefties went to him. Anyway, while he had me on the table, he used to rant about his politics, about how children didn't obey their parents anymore, how we need law and order, etc. Not wanting to disagree (given my posture), I said "don't they have law and order in the Soviet Union?" hoping to catch him on a contradiction. It turned out that he loved the USSR, since he was a _generalized_ authoritarian. He liked the fact that Soviet children wore uniforms, etc. Oh, my back!)

Jim Devine