Perhaps the most important, overheard political conversation ever:
Most here are probably unaware of one of our nation's first highly regarded women journalists, a lady named Dorothy Thompson.
Given that we are heading into contentious territory regarding the upcoming Democratic primary, I think her story bears repeating:
George Seldes, who was a Chicago Tribune correspondent during the late Nineteen teens and up until 1929 relates the following conversation that he had with Dorothy Thompson -another news reporter and the wife of Sinclair Lewis:
Thompson told Seldes in 1935 that while en route by ocean liner from France to NYC how a Mr. F. Sinclair, a Big Money Guy, took her away from the table where they were eating to talk privately with her.
"See those folks at the table who were eating with us?" F Sinclair asks Thompson?
"Yes," answers Dorothy.
"Well, all of us are the ones who decide who gets nominated to run for the Presidency and who gets to win that office."
Among those he indicated was an important associate of the Giannini family, who established Bank of America. (Giannini family headed up Bank of America.)
""We give money on both sides of the aisle, so that no matter what, one of our people is always in a place to do our bidding."
"What about FDR?" asked Dorothy.
"Our support for him was a major misjudgement on our part. We saw to it that he had money and of course, we fully expected for him to say the sort of things that he always said. We just didn't expect him to act on those statements."
Sinclair went on to state for the purpose of Thompson's enlightenment that the Inner Circle of Power Brokers was attempting to raise some five to twenty million to defeat FDR in 1936.
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But the voting machinery during FDR's era was still non-hackable back in that era. And FDR had millions upon millions of everyday people to vote him back in.
How we progressives could ever get one of our own into office remains to be seen.
= new reply since forum marked as read
Proverb
The more things change, the more they stay the same
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W)e fully expected for him to say the sort of things that he always said. We just didn't expect him to act on those statements."
It always has been and always will be "Words and Deeds."
I'll judge presidential candidates on their deeds over the past decades, thank you very much, and not the convenient political pandering of campaign rhetoric, because those utterances will be “much forgotten, Cynara! gone with the wind,"
Read more at http://izquotes.com/quote/225127
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