The Naked Communist

Last updated

The Naked Communist
The Naked Communist.jpg
Author W. Cleon Skousen
IllustratorArnold Friberg
Cover artistIzzard Ink Publishing
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Subjects Communism
Socialism
Published1958, 2014 (Izzard Ink Publishing)
Pages398
ISBN 978-1630720797
335.4 22
LC Class HX44 .S5585 2009

The Naked Communist is a 1958 anti-communist book by W. Cleon Skousen, a former FBI employee. [1] [2] The book has been reprinted several times and it has sold more than one million copies. [3]

Contents

Content

The Naked Communist is a 1958 anti-communist book by American faith-based political theorist W. Cleon Skousen, a former FBI employee. [1] [2] The main subject of the book is an alleged communist plot to overcome and control all of the world's governments through the implementation of social progressivism and by undermining American foreign policy through the promotion of internationalism and pacifism. The early chapters of the book cover the philosophy of Marxism and Soviet Communism as well as some of the history of communist power in various countries including the Soviet Union, China and Cuba.

Reception

The book has been reprinted several times—most recently in a 2017 printing through Izzard Ink Publishing—and it has sold more than one million copies. [3] The book has been highly discussed by American conservatives Glenn Beck and Ben Carson, [4] the latter of whom stated, "The Naked Communist lays out the whole progressive plan. It is unbelievable how fast it has been achieved." [5] [6] [7] In 1963, a portion of the book was read into the United States Congressional Record . [8]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">McCarthyism</span> Phenomenon of US political rhetoric after WWII

McCarthyism, also known as the second Red Scare, was the political repression and persecution of left-wing individuals and a campaign spreading fear of alleged communist and Soviet influence on American institutions and of Soviet espionage in the United States during the late 1940s through the 1950s. After the mid-1950s, U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy, who had spearheaded the campaign, gradually lost his public popularity and credibility after several of his accusations were found to be false. The U.S. Supreme Court under Chief Justice Earl Warren made a series of rulings on civil and political rights that overturned several key laws and legislative directives, and helped bring an end to the Second Red Scare. Historians have suggested since the 1980s that as McCarthy's involvement was less central than that of others, a different and more accurate term should be used instead that more accurately conveys the breadth of the phenomenon, and that the term McCarthyism is now outdated. Ellen Schrecker has suggested that Hooverism after FBI Head J. Edgar Hoover is more appropriate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Birch Society</span> American right-wing advocacy group

The John Birch Society (JBS) is an American right-wing political advocacy group. Founded in 1958, it is anti-communist, supports social conservatism, and is associated with ultraconservative, radical right, far-right, and libertarian ideas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glenn Beck</span> American political commentator (born 1964)

Glenn Lee Beck is an American conservative political commentator, radio host, entrepreneur, and television producer. He is the CEO, founder, and owner of Mercury Radio Arts, the parent company of his television and radio network TheBlaze. He hosts the Glenn Beck Radio Program, a talk-radio show nationally syndicated on Premiere Radio Networks. Beck also hosts the Glenn Beck television program, which ran from January 2006 to October 2008 on HLN, from January 2009 to June 2011 on Fox News and now airs on TheBlaze. Beck has authored six New York Times–bestselling books.

A useful idiot is a person perceived as propagandizing for a cause—particularly a bad cause originating from a devious, ruthless source—without fully comprehending the cause's goals, and who is cynically being used by the cause's leaders. Erroneously attributed to Vladimir Lenin, the term was often used during the Cold War to describe non-communists regarded as susceptible to communist propaganda and psychological manipulation. Similar terms exist in English and other languages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ben Carson</span> American neurosurgeon and politician (born 1951)

Benjamin Solomon Carson Sr. is an American retired neurosurgeon, academic, author, and politician who served as the 17th United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from 2017 to 2021. A pioneer in the field of neurosurgery, he was a candidate for President of the United States in the 2016 Republican primaries. Carson is one of the most prominent Black conservatives in America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carroll Quigley</span> American historian

Carroll Quigley was an American historian and theorist of the evolution of civilizations. He is remembered for his teaching work as a professor at Georgetown University, and his seminal works, The Evolution of Civilizations: An Introduction to Historical Analysis, and Tragedy And Hope; A History Of The World In Our Time, in which he states that an Anglo-American banking elite have worked together for centuries to spread certain values globally.

In the United States, domestic terrorism is defined as terrorist acts that were carried out within the United States by U.S. citizens and/or U.S. permanent residents. As of 2021, the United States government considers white supremacists to be the top domestic terrorism threat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">W. Cleon Skousen</span> American conservative author

Willard Cleon Skousen was an American conservative author with the John Birch Society and a faith-based conspiracy theorist. A notable anti-communist and supporter of the John Birch Society, Skousen's works involved a wide range of subjects including the Six-Day War, Mormon eschatology, New World Order conspiracies, and parenting. His most popular works are The Five Thousand Year Leap and The Naked Communist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lavender Scare</span> Mid-20th century U.S. government discrimination against homosexuals

The Lavender Scare was a moral panic about homosexual people in the United States government which led to their mass dismissal from government service during the mid-20th century. It contributed to and paralleled the anti-communist campaign which is known as McCarthyism and the Second Red Scare. Gay men and lesbians were said to be national security risks and communist sympathizers, which led to the call to remove them from state employment. It was thought that gay people were more susceptible to being manipulated, which could pose a threat to the country. Lesbians were at less risk of persecution than gay men, but some lesbians were interrogated or lost their jobs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Executive Order 9835</span> 1947 order by President Harry S. Truman

President Harry S. Truman signed United States Executive Order 9835, sometimes known as the "Loyalty Order", on March 21, 1947. The order established the first general loyalty program in the United States, designed to root out communist influence in the U.S. federal government. Truman aimed to rally public opinion behind his Cold War policies with investigations conducted under its authority. He also hoped to quiet right-wing critics who accused Democrats of being soft on communism. At the same time, he advised the Loyalty Review Board to limit the role of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to avoid a witch hunt. The program investigated over 3 million government employees, just over 300 of whom were dismissed as security risks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Syd Herlong</span> American politician

Albert Sydney Herlong Jr. was an American lawyer and politician from Florida who served ten terms in the United States House of Representatives from 1949 to 1969. He was a member of the Democratic Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frederica Wilson</span> American politician (born 1942)

Frederica Smith Wilson is an American politician who has been a member of the United States House of Representatives since 2011, representing Florida's 24th congressional district. Located in South Florida, Wilson's congressional district, numbered 17th during her first term, covers a large swath of eastern Miami-Dade County and a sliver of southern Broward County. The district contains most of Miami's majority-black precincts, as well as parts of Opa-locka, North Miami, Hollywood, and Miramar. Wilson gained national attention in 2012 for her comments on the death of Trayvon Martin.

Povl Bang-Jensen was a Danish diplomat who refused to hand over a list of eighty-one witnesses to the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 to his UN superiors. It is thought that he considered their identities sensitive information, and if they were turned over to the UN Secretariat, they could be leaked to the Soviet Union, and reprisals could possibly be taken against their relatives in Hungary.

The National Center for Constitutional Studies (NCCS), formerly known as The Freeman Institute, is a conservative, religious-themed organization, founded by Latter-day Saint political writer W. Cleon Skousen.

Manning Rudolph Johnson AKA Manning Johnson and Manning R. Johnson was a Communist Party USA African-American leader and the party's candidate for U.S. Representative from New York's 22nd congressional district during a special election in 1935. Later, he left the Party and became an anti-communist government informant and witness.

<i>The Five Thousand Year Leap</i>

The Five Thousand Year Leap: Twenty-Eight Great Ideas That Are Changing the World is a book that was published in 1981 by American Mormon author and attorney W. Cleon Skousen. The book asserts that the United States prospered because it was established upon universal natural law principles that had been passed down from common law and traditional Judeo-Christian morality, as many of the Founding Fathers had been guided by the Bible, among others. Thus, the book asserts that the U.S. Constitution incorporates enlightened ideas.

Paul Skousen is a son of W. Cleon Skousen, and is a writer of books including The Naked Socialist. He has written other books aimed at the Latter Day Saint market.

<i>Common Nonsense</i> 2010 book by Alexander Zaitchik

Common Nonsense: Glenn Beck and the Triumph of Ignorance is a 2010 book by investigative reporter Alexander Zaitchik. Released in June 2010, the book attempts to critically explain the life story and phenomenon of conservative host Glenn Beck.

The 2016 presidential campaign of Ben Carson, a pediatric neurosurgeon and bestselling author, was announced May 3, 2015, in an interview with a local television station in Cincinnati, Ohio. He formally announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination in the 2016 presidential election at a rally in his hometown of Detroit on May 4, 2015. On March 4, 2016, Carson officially ended his campaign in a speech at CPAC. He endorsed Donald Trump on March 11. After Trump won the general election, he selected Carson to be his Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, with Carson announcing an additional administration role overseeing the repeal and replacement of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

This is a timeline of LGBT Mormon history in the 1950s, part of a series of timelines consisting of events, publications, and speeches about LGBTQ+ individuals, topics around sexual orientation and gender minorities, and the community of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Although the historical record is often scarce, evidence points to queer individuals having existed in the Mormon community since its beginnings. However, top LDS leaders only started regularly addressing queer topics in public in the late 1950s. Since 1970, the LDS Church has had at least one official publication or speech from a high-ranking leader referencing LGBT topics every year, and a greater number of LGBT Mormon and former Mormon individuals have received media coverage.

References

  1. 1 2 Umbr(a): The Object. The Center for the Study of Psychoanalysis and Culture. 2014. ISBN   9780979953965 . Retrieved June 12, 2015.
  2. 1 2 Vegső, Roland (2012). The Naked Communist: Cold War Modernism and the Politics of Popular Culture. Oxford University Press. ISBN   9780823245581 . Retrieved June 12, 2015.
  3. 1 2 Haddock, Sharon. "Beck's backing bumps Skousen book to top". Deseret News. Archived from the original on June 16, 2015. Retrieved June 12, 2015.
  4. Wilentz, Sean (October 18, 2010). "Confounding Fathers". The New Yorker. Vol. 86, no. 32. p. 32. Retrieved June 12, 2015.
  5. "The Kelly File with Ben Carson". The Kelly File with Ben Carson. YouTube. Archived from the original on December 20, 2021.
  6. "Urban Faith The Naked Communist". Urban Faith The Naked Communist. Urban Faith. Archived from the original on June 10, 2015. Retrieved June 10, 2015.
  7. Mattingly, Phil (October 15, 2014). "Ben Carson's Longshot Presidential Bid Suddenly Looks a Lot More Realistic". Bloomberg.com. Bloomberg. Retrieved June 12, 2015.
  8. Herlong, A. S. Jr. (1963). "Current Communist Goals". Congressional Record. 109: A34–A35.