As Lee Hays said of this period, "If it wasn't for the honor, I'd've rather missed being blacklisted."

The same as happened in Seattle happened at Northwestern University (Chicago/Evanston, IL) when friends of mine sponsored a wonderful concert in '55-'56? with Pete and Bill Broonzy----and then with Pete solo. (I've still got aging tapes of both of those concerts.) "Wasn't that a terrible time?"--the song says.--Yes it was---but it was also the best of times---as Mr. Dickens said. Being a teenager then helped mold my own social conscience as well as my feelings about what was right or wrong. I remember feeling somewhat betrayed when I found out that, yes, some of my mentors had been communists. But the morals I developed in those times, have suited this rabid individualist pretty well. If I have communists to thank for those, I can do that easily enough even as I watch the pendulum swing somewhat more toward the center in these latter days.

Art Thieme