Not Without Honor

Many myths about communism died when the USSR fell into the ash heap of history. The opening of Soviet archives revealed the extent of many of the myths. We know now that Moscow financed and controlled the Communist Party USA. The idea that Americans who joined that party could be independent is a lie. They did what Stalin wanted done. Most of the American communists who betrayed the US were members of the CPUSA and revered Stalin. The Rosenbergs, who stole US atom bomb secrets for delivery to Moscow, were members of the CPUSA. The A bomb that Stalin tested was an exact copy of the one the US developed- no accident. The possession of the bomb gave Stalin the confidence to approve the invasion of South Korea by the communist North, a war that cost the US 50,000 lives. Many Americans fought communism but too often US liberals characterized them as the real enemy instead of the Communists. Not Without Honor is highly recommended reading for anyone who can accept the truth. I also recommended Venona, messages Moscow sent its US agents in the late 1940's and The Black Book of Communism, a detailed history of what Communism gave the world- 100 million murders of innocent people. Today many liberals act the way they did with respect to communism. They downplay the threat of terrorism and play up the "threat" to our civil liberties by those who fight terror. Some people never learn. One man who did learn was Ronald Reagan, who started out as a liberal Democrat and then learned to think accurately. To my regret I never voted for him- I was then a liberal Democrat and half-blind.

This book is a history of American anti-communism from 1917 to 1991. It covers the good (Sidney Hook, Norman Podhoretz, William F. Buckley) and the bad (Joseph McCarthy and J. Edgar Hoover). Mr. Powers conclusion is the bad does not stain the good and that American anti-communism was a positive force in the world, helping to free millions from the communist nightmare.