Have We Won the Cold War
Yet? The most poignant story of this year's World Series was the young Cuban, Livan Hernandez, who defected from Castro’s communist regime to win two games in the series and take home the series' MVP award. His brother is considered an even better baseball player, but Castro won’t let him out; and, he refuses to play for the Cuban National Team anymore. In the face of bad public relations, Castro allowed Hernandez’s mother to come to the United States to visit her son and watch the final game of the World Series. Then, this last week, President Clinton (plus many congressional and business leaders) welcomed Jiang Zemin, the leader of communist China, like he is a long lost friend instead of the leader of an evil empire. The communist regime is responsible for: the Tiananmen Square massacre, leading the sale of nuclear arms to third world tyrants, the murder of millions in the various "culture revolutions," the oppression of Tibet, killing thousands of American soldiers in Korea, and the financial support of thousands of more American deaths in Vietnam. I am not sure what policy the United States should take toward China and Cuba, but we need to remember the effects of communism and its statist compatriot's fascism and socialism. We seem to forget that, at its foundation, the Cold War was not about conflicting economic or political philosophies. It was a battle between good and evil. Stalin, Mao, Hitler, Pol Pot, and their agents murdered tens of millions of people, subjecting over a billion to poverty and slavery to the State. The last ten years produced amazing victories for the United States and its way of life. There was the collapse of the Soviet Union and communism in Eastern Europe symbolically emblazoned in our minds. We watched on television as the people of East Germany tore down the Berlin Wall that had literally imprisoned millions. Nevertheless, it is hard to feel too giddy when China, Vietnam, and Cuba are still oppressing people and promoting an incompatible ideology with the United States. Even more disheartening is that far too many American elitists in government, academia, and media continue to distort the truth about communism. They continue to support the basic principles of statist government for the United States. One of the fringe benefits of the Soviet Union’s collapse has been the ability to set the historical record straight about American communists' acts of espionage. Unless you are a real history buff or news hound, there is a good chance you have never heard of Alger Hiss or Whittaker Chambers. Chambers was an active member of the communist party during the 1930's and had a somewhat unsavory childhood. Hiss was an Ivy League lawyer who worked for the Roosevelt administration. Secretly, Hiss was also a communist who committed acts of espionage by turning over classified documents to Chambers and others. In the late 30's, Chambers left the communist party and became a writer and editor for Time magazine. After the Second World War, and as the Cold War started heating up, Chambers came forward and told his story to a young congressman by the name of Richard Nixon. Nixon brought Chambers and Hiss before a congressional committee to testify. This captured the attention of America, as the hearings were broadcast on the new medium of television. Hiss set an example for the current administration and denied everything, including ever knowing Chambers. Eventually, this resulted in Hiss being convicted of perjury; but, he was not prosecuted on the espionage charges. The only short-term winner in this was Richard Nixon. He was launched onto the national scene, helping him get the Vice Presidential nomination in 1952. Chambers died a few years later. Hiss lived to an old age, dying only a couple of years ago. Hiss never admitted to his acts of espionage and treason. Despite a huge effort to rewrite history and exonerate him by influential left-wing journalists and politicians, documents found in the former Soviet Union have proven that Hiss was an active member in the communist party and that he did participate in espionage, just as Chambers had claimed. Chambers wouldn’t have called himself a hero because of his participation in the evils of communism, but his story should be told in our classrooms. His biography, entitled Witness, should be required reading or, at least, the first chapter that explains communism -- its evils and the alternative. Despite providing the moral foundation of Cold War issues, most schools would ban it because it mentions "enemy number one" in public education -- God. Incidentally, Chambers mentioned that the number one enemy of communism was God, as well. Next week, we will honor our veterans on Veterans Day. It is time we remember the warriors of the Cold War by remembering what we were fighting for and reaffirming those values for the nation -- for today and tomorrow. I will continue with this theme next week. |
