A list of some of the biggest Soviet dupes in American history ranges from the celebrated acting duo of Bogie and Bacall to the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, author Paul Kengor tells Newsmax.TV.
Kengor details the left’s misguided love affair with all things communist in his new book, “Dupes: How America’s Adversaries Have Manipulated Progressives for a Century.”
The Grove City (Pa.) College professor uncovered the information by combing through the archives of the Comintern, or Communist International, an organization created to spread the communist doctrine worldwide.
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“I found in there not just-jaw dropping statements, and contacts and correspondence between American communists and Soviet communists but the very deliberate, very cynical, very shrewd manipulation and targeting of American liberals and progressives to be used by the communists, with always very clear instructions: ‘Don’t let them know you’re communist,” Kengor said in the exclusive interview with Newsmax.TV.
“And again, and again, and again, especially, with, among others, academics, social justice, religious left, progressive pastors, they had amazing success manipulating, duping, hood winking, fooling, deceiving these people and through that these people became unwitting participants. They helped aid and abet these enemies of America.”
Kengor, the executive director of Grove City College’s Center for Vision and Values, also has written “God and Ronald Reagan” and “The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism.”
Among the greatest dupes, Kengor lists Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Kennedy, Hollywood writers, politicians, and educators. Kengor makes clear that those named were not traitors and were not guilty of treason. In fact, he writes, they didn’t realize they were being used.
Kengor’s book reprints a six-page document regarding Kennedy’s contact with Soviet leader Yuri Andropov in 1983 in which Kennedy blames worsening U.S.-Soviet relations on President Ronald Reagan’s belligerence and defense policies.
The left’s blind spot to communism is replicated today with liberals’ views on radical Islam, North Korea, and Iran, he said during the Newsmax interview.
“Here again you’ve got this fatal gullibility, this fatal naïveté where they just don’t have good judgment when it comes to who the real enemy is,” he said.
When asked who might pick up the Reagan mantle, Kengor praised two well-known Republicans: “I’ve always been very impressed with Newt Gingrich. He’s very articulate. I don’t know if he could win the presidency . . . I think Sarah Palin has the courage that the vast majority of the people in our party lack. And the fact that the left hates her so much shows how right she often is.”
Although he said he could not predict the eventual presidential nominee, he said the Republican Party needs to unite because its disunity is giving President Barack Obama an advantage.
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