Skip to main content

Why did the Dallas leadership fear Communism, Civil Rights, and John F. Kennedy?

In the 1950s and early 1960s, Dallas was a hotbed of conservatism and anti-Communist fear. The city became the regional headquarters of the John Birch Society, which espoused the idea that Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt, Truman, and Eisenhower were pawns of the Communist Party. The founder of the John Birch Society, Robert Welch, believed that Communists controlled the Civil Rights movement and John F. Kennedy. Right-wing extremists popularized the idea in Dallas that Kennedy had sold out to traitors, and, though these leaders represented a fringe group, they swayed public opinion against Kennedy.


Other leaders, such as H.L. Hunt, the Republican Texas oil tycoon, also helped sway public opinion against Kennedy. Hunt was anti-Catholic and had been active in circulating anti-Catholic literature during Kennedy's campaign. Hunt and other Texas oilmen were afraid that Kennedy would repeal the oil depletion allowance that represented a large tax break for them, and they were very opposed to his regulation of business. Edwin Walker, a former Army general who resigned in 1961, also lived in Dallas and propagated anti-Communist beliefs. With Hunt's backing, Walker ran for Governor of Texas as a rabid segregationist and lost. In April of 1963, a few months before Kennedy was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald, Oswald bizarrely also tried to kill Walker but failed. The right-wing leaders in Dallas were also opposed to the United Nations, and Adlai Stevenson, the U.S. envoy to the U.N., was heckled and harassed when he gave a speech in Dallas in October of 1963, a month before Kennedy was shot. By the time Kennedy visited Dallas in November of 1963, public opinion and opinion in the Dallas press was running high against him, though many friendly crowds showed up before his assassination on November 22, 1963.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

etymology - Origin of the greeting "Sweet dreams".

Does anybody know the etymology of the phrase "sweet dreams"? I tried googling but did not find anything satisfying. Is this a relatively new phrase of the modern world or has this been in use for some time? I think it's the latter one. Answer The OED has the interjection as "a farewell to someone going to bed" from the 20th century: 1908 Sears Roebuck Catal. 198/1 Tenor Solos..Good Bye, Sweet Dreams, Good Bye. But it goes back until at least the 19th and possibly 18th centuries. John Wolcot, writing under the pseudonym of Peter Pindar, used it in his poem "Orson and Ellen; A Legendary Tale" published in 1801: Also from 1801 in The infernal Quixote (Page 287) by Charles Lucas: In the March 1776 of The Universal Magazine was published "The Serenade. A Pastoral Tale. From the German of Gesner" , where the shepherd Daphnis watches over his beloved as she sleeps and sings: The same tale appears in 1776's as Idyl XI, " Daphnis ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

What are the similarities between the relationships of the characters in The Outsiders and Romeo and Juliet?

At first glance, it might appear as if the characters in  The Outsiders  by S. E. Hinton and  Romeo and Juliet  by William Shakespeare do not have much in common; however, when one isolates the core of the conflicts, it becomes clear that the relationships in both stories are rooted in rivalry and secrecy.  In both  The Outsiders  and  Romeo and Juliet , an overarching theme is rivalry. While   socioeconomic status separates the greasers from the Socs in The Outsiders , last names separates the Montagues from the Capulets, who appear to be relatively equal in terms of socioeconomic status. Due to these rivalries, there are instances of deadly interactions in both stories. In  The Outsiders , Johnny kills Bob (whether his actions were justified or not is debatable). In  Romeo and Juliet , Romeo kills Tybalt and Paris, and Tybalt kills Mercutio. These deaths have profound effects on the main characters. In Ponyboy's case, the Johnny's death and other events in the novel inspire h...
Post a Comment
Read more