Pete Seeger gets apology

Subject: Pete Seeger gets apology
From: mark gregory
Date: 12 Feb 09 - 06:31 AM

Nearly a half century ago, amid suspicion and fears of McCarthyism, folk singer Pete Seeger faced an ultimatum from the San Diego school district: Sign an oath against communism or cancel a concert he planned at a high school auditorium.

Seeger, who at the time of the board's demand was under scrutiny for his leftist politics, refused to sign the oath. A judge allowed the concert to proceed anyway.

Decades later, the school board wants to make amends. In a resolution approved Tuesday night, the school district declared that the board "deeply regrets its predecessors' actions" and offered an apology to a man who has become "one of our dearest national treasures."

The 89-year-old songwriter appears willing to accept the board's apology, saying the board's resolution is a "measure of justice that our right to freedom of expression has been vindicated."

He also quipped that the board's demand for the oath in 1960 may have helped his career.

"This was the contradiction the poor blacklisters faced: The more they tried to target me the more they drummed up publicity for my concerts," Seeger told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from his home in Beacon, N.Y. "I like to misquote Thomas Jefferson in saying, 'The price of liberty is eternal publicity.'"

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger gets apology
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 12 Feb 09 - 09:28 AM

It's never too late to do the right thing, and I am pleased that has been done while Pete is here to accept the apology.
Has the American senate or Congress ever offered a similar apology?

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger gets apology
From: Fortunato
Date: 12 Feb 09 - 10:22 AM

Sandy,

I saw Pete's appearance in front of the Lincoln Memorial at the Welcome Obama concert as a vindication. I would truly like to see Congress issue a formal apology. But once they started apologizing for past ills they'd be tied up until doomsday, and even less would get down on the work of the nation.

A formal denunciation of McCarthyism might be shorter and more direct.

regards,
Chance Shiver

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger gets apology
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 12 Feb 09 - 10:27 AM

Tru enough, Chance! Thanks!

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger gets apology
From: Big Mick
Date: 12 Feb 09 - 01:02 PM

Perfect, Chance. And thanks, Mark, for starting this one. Seeger is one of the most cherished voices of our national conscience.

All the best,

Mick

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger gets apology
From: Joe_F
Date: 12 Feb 09 - 09:54 PM

Fortunato: The Senate did censure McCarthy, on the spot. Won't that do?

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger gets apology
From: Mark Ross
Date: 12 Feb 09 - 10:06 PM

No it won't, they need to apologize for the blacklist!


Mark Ross

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger gets apology
From: Rapparee
Date: 12 Feb 09 - 10:07 PM

Should have imprisoned him...and his henchman, young Dick Nixon.

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger gets apology
From: Nick E
Date: 12 Feb 09 - 10:10 PM

Thought the black list refered mostly to Hollywood

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger gets apology
From: topical tom
Date: 12 Feb 09 - 10:10 PM

Right on, Mark, since the McCarthy blacklist involved not only Pete Seeger.Others also need apologies.

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger gets apology
From: GUEST,iancarterb
Date: 12 Feb 09 - 10:20 PM

That can get thorny as it spreads out. Another of his 'henchmen' was young attorney Robert Kennedy.

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger gets apology
From: Fortunato
Date: 13 Feb 09 - 08:09 AM

McCarthy and his henchman are mostly dead.

My wish is for the living Americans who were blacklisted for exercising their constitutional rights and actualizing their American values to be publically vindicated, and recognized for their stalwart insistance on their rights as American citizens.

We ought to do this to remind ourselves and the world what we stand for. Life (without torture), Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness regardless of our individual, diverse, beliefs.

There is a shadow, a pall, over what we stand for, resulting from recent events that must be removed.

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger gets apology
From: topical tom
Date: 13 Feb 09 - 11:31 AM

I didn't explain myself properly. I meant, of course, only those still alive who were included in the blacklist.

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger gets apology
From: John Hardly
Date: 13 Feb 09 - 12:05 PM

"This was the contradiction the poor blacklisters faced: The more they tried to target me the more they drummed up publicity for my concerts," Seeger told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from his home in Beacon, N.Y. "I like to misquote Thomas Jefferson in saying, 'The price of liberty is eternal publicity.'"

I agree with Pete. If not for the blacklist, Pete would be as famous today as Dave Guard. But with the blacklist and its publicity, Seeger is a national hero instead of a forgotten folksinger.