Communists in AcademiaThis is actually
rather amusing:
The political center at CUNY was no less inverted. Dr. Kathleen McCarthy, for instance, when teaching the American Civil War, confined herself to Northern Female Voluntary Societies who provided needed materials and welfare. Having covered this topic, she then informed us, “This is all you need to know about the Civil War.” Dr. Judith Stein confined her study of the Kennedy administration during 1962 to her own obsessions: his dealing with the steel industry and his capital gains tax cut. No mention was made of the little matter of nuclear warheads in Cuba.
Factional groups were wary of if not hostile toward each other. But there were issues that could unite them. When I confronted Kathleen McCarthy with evidence that perhaps Southern white women on plantations were involved in voluntary efforts as well, she retorted: “Well, their general, Robert E. Lee tried to escape wearing a dress.” (It was in fact, the Confederacy’s Vice President Alexander Stephens.) Meanwhile, despite contributing money to Gore’s campaign in 2000, Dr. Sandi Cooper bemoaned the fact that either way she would be hearing a Southern accent from the president.Amusing considering that the Cold War is over; it wouldn't be so funny if the communists still had a chance of winning.
Update: Commenter J. Duxx points out that the story of the Confederate trying to escape in a dress is actually about Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederacy, and not Alexander Stephens, and that the story started with confusion about what Davis was wearing. This editorial cartoon and article indicates that
Duxx is correct.
