The Gilded Ghetto

From Leslie Chang’s interview on Booknotes:

“… at the time that I knew her that was what she was trying to sort of realize her dream, was just gambling these amounts of money on speculation, especially the commodities market … But my mother's reason, which is the reason why many of these women do that kind of thing, is that--I think that she didn't know what to do with her life. You know, she was a little bit bored but very smart, and she had no other outlet. And so stocks were an interesting thing. And she has a lot of friends who do play stocks and read all about the different companies that are on the exchange. And I think that that's a way of channeling their energy into something that they feel is productive because they never had the chance to do that.“

All members of the Dragon Ladies’ Technical Analysis Association.

Disillusioned with Liberals

From David Brock’s interview on Booknotes:

“… at Berkeley I did become disillusioned with what I saw of left liberalism … I found the left to be intellectually intolerant. This was the very beginning of the whole PC movement, the PC controversy, where speakers who came to Berkeley such as Jeane Kirkpatrick were being shouted down and not permitted to present their own points of view. I found that even some of the arguments that I made as a newspaper editor on the campus daily were attacked. For example, I wrote a column praising the Grenada invasion in 1983, and the argument there was never on the merits of what I had said in the column. It was simply that an editor of the daily paper, the Berkeley Daily, a progressive newspaper, couldn't hold such obscene views. There was a lot of that at Berkeley. I wouldn't say that made me conservative, but it did make me somewhat disillusioned with liberals. I had always thought liberals were for freedom of thought and freedom of the press and all of that, and it turned out not to be the case in my experience.“

The Embodiment of Liberal Activism

From William Chafe’s interview on Booknotes:

“[Another] secret that [Allard Lowenstein was] dealing with is the fact that he discovers -- says in his diary when he's 14 years old that he doesn't know how to deal with the fact that he has these very strong impulses -- sexual impulses toward young men. We're talking about 1943, a period of time in our history when there is no cultural sanction, no space, no room for talking about sexual impulses and ambivalences; no room for support for people who may have homosexual impulses. And so he says at that point, “The only way I think I can deal with this is to make good friends, to make best friends.” And that's how he does choose to deal with it.“

Movies Watched -- Three Coins in a Fountain (1954)

102 minute running time so just a couple minutes over the ideal … sort of a love letter to Rome (and Venice) .. American “girls” in post-war Italy surrounded by Italian stallions … pre-women’s lib, once again … the oldest lady should have become a cat lady instead of marrying that insufferable old American prick (played by Clifton Webb) — that third of the love story didn’t make any sense. Definitely give it a miss unless you’re interested in what male-female courtship rituals in the mid-1950s were supposed to look like (“predatory dames”).

Bosley Crowther’s review.

Things can happen that American girls don't understand.

Movies Watched -- Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)

102 minute running time so only two minutes over the ideal length … a Stanley Donen MGM movie musical from the mid-1950s … pre-women’s lib … lots of comical fistfights (combined with acrobatic dancing) and kidnapping of womenfolk … silly fun but much weaker than Singin’ in the Rain (which was great). See it if you like musicals, but certainly doesn’t get a green-go rating.

We ain't never hardly never seen a girl

God Does Not Play Dice

From Denis Brian’s interview on Booknotes:

“He was hated by the Nazis because he was almost regarded as the representative of Jews in Germany, the representative of Jewish intellectuals. And he spoke out against the Nazis. And, in fact, when they put a price on his head and people threatened to kill him and he was in Belgium and being protected by the queen of Belgium, who was a friend of his, strangely enough, and who secretly -- she had detectives guard him, when his wife begged him to stop talking out against the Nazis, to keep quiet, his life was in danger, he refused to keep quiet. He said, ‘I wouldn't be Einstein if I kept quiet.’”

Do Away With You All

From Sarah Brady’s interview on Booknotes:

“Scott was a little boy about 5. We went to go swimming with some friends, and they had the pickup truck from her business, and the gentleman who worked for her was driving. And Scott hopped in and I hopped in to the pickup truck, and Scott picked up off the seat what we both thought was a toy gun, and he sort of started in to play with it. And I said, ‘Scott.’ And I took it from him. I said, ‘You don't even point a toy gun at anyone.’ And then I realized it was not a toy gun, it was a fully loaded little .22, very much like the one that had shot Jim.“

The Best Political Campaign Manager in History

From John Brady’s interview on Booknotes:

“There is a quality of desperation in this religious search. It has, to me, more the aura of someone who is looking for religion not out of fervor, but out of fear … These prayers are all pretty much of the quality that, `Dear God, if you will help me through this, if you will make me better, if you will give me a victory in this, I will be the best foot soldier you could ever want in your army.' There's usually a quid pro quo in Lee's prayers, and I think that he was trying to make a deal with God, much as you'd make a deal with someone in order to get a political victory. I think that was Lee's nature. I think that was the essence of Lee to the end: trying to manipulate, trying to manage people, trying to have his way with them….“

Write a Letter to God

From Melba Pattillo Beals’ interview on Booknotes:

“President Clinton--then Billy Clinton to us--Billy brought us together in 1987 at the mansion--the mansion where Governor Faubus had sat and planned our demise.“

Everyone knows William Jefferson Clinton was our first black president.

Custer's Luck

From Louise Barnett’s interview on Booknotes:

“[Custer] left her [his wife] nothing but debts. This was quite shocking. He had speculated in railroad stocks shortly before his death and incurred considerable losses, over $8,000, which at the time was a very large amount of money, particularly for someone on a lieutenant colonel's salary. And, of course, he did not expect to not to live to repay this. But Libby was left with that debt, which she had known nothing about until his assets were totaled up. So she started out with that burden. However, when she died, she left an estate of over $125,000, which in the 1930s was obviously a considerable amount of money. She was quite lucky in being on the lecture circuit and then making careful investments.“